Massively parallel Vlasov simulation of electromagnetic drift-wave turbulence Original Research Article

We use a hybrid model of drift-kinetic electrons and fluid ions to treat electromagnetic drift-wave turbulence in an inhomogeneous collisionless plasma confined by a strong external magnetic field. The electrons are described in terms of a distribution function in five-dimensional phase space, and the basic nonlinear equations are solved numerically on a massively parallel computer using explicit finite-difference methods of the upwind and predictor-corrector type. The algorithm as well as its parallelization are explained, the parallel speedup is measured, and various numerical tests are performed.