Ultrahigh performance three-dimensional electromagnetic relativistic kinetic plasma simulation
- Plasma Theory and Applications (X-1-PTA), Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS F699, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)
The algorithms, implementation details, and applications of VPIC, a state-of-the-art first principles 3D electromagnetic relativistic kinetic particle-in-cell code, are discussed. Unlike most codes, VPIC is designed to minimize data motion, as, due to physical limitations (including the speed of light{exclamation_point}), moving data between and even within modern microprocessors is more time consuming than performing computations. As a result, VPIC has achieved unprecedented levels of performance. For example, VPIC can perform {approx}0.17 billion cold particles pushed and charge conserving accumulated per second per processor on IBM's Cell microprocessor--equivalent to sustaining Los Alamos's planned Roadrunner supercomputer at {approx}0.56 petaflop (quadrillion floating point operations per second). VPIC has enabled previously intractable simulations in numerous areas of plasma physics, including magnetic reconnection and laser plasma interactions; next generation supercomputers like Roadrunner will enable further advances.
- OSTI ID:
- 21120342
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 15, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2840133; (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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