Non-local closure and parallel performance of lattice Boltzmann models for some plasma physics problems

The lattice Boltzmann (LB) method is a mesoscopic approach to solving nonlinear macroscopic conservation equations. Because the LB algorithm yields a simple collide-stream sequence it has been extensively applied to Navier–Stokes flows, but its MHD counterpart is less well known in the plasma physics community. Several plasma problems that should be amenable to LB are discussed. In particular, Landau damping—a collisionless kinetic phenomenon of wave–particle interaction—can be studied by LB since non-local macroscopic closures have been generated by plasma physicists. The parallel performance of 2D LB codes for MHD are presented, including scaling performance on the Earth Simulator.