Petascale plasma physics simulations using PIC codes

该奖项促进了使用由 IBM 开发并计划在伊利诺伊大学部署的名为 Blue Waters 的大型新型计算资源的科学研究。它提供差旅费，以支持主要研究人员、Blue Waters 项目团队和供应商技术团队之间的技术协调。该项目团队将利用 Blue Waters 推进加州大学洛杉矶分校等离子体模拟小组和 OSIRIS 联盟的联合研究目标。这些研究目标涵盖四个不同的等离子体物理问题，这些问题依赖于使用细胞内粒子 (PIC) 算法进行模拟。这些算法通过 UCLA 等离子体模拟小组和 OSIRIS 联盟维护的六种不同代码来实现。该项目将把这个 PIC 基础设施引入 Blue Waters，以解决四个等离子体物理重大挑战模拟：首次对组装好的快速点火目标进行 3D 模拟，其尺寸对聚变能感兴趣；探索与相对论无碰撞激波相关的宇宙加速器的机制；具有必要空间分辨率的模拟，以探索相对论移动等离子体波作为替代加速结构（当前粒子加速器）；区域 3D PIC 模拟能够识别地球磁尾中的亚暴爆发。 PIC 代码用于做出影响不同领域并具有重大社会影响的科学发现，例如高能物理、聚变能和通信卫星的可靠性。拟议的研究还与新的数字研究和教育研究所（IDRE）有很大的协同作用。这将使研究结果广泛影响加州大学洛杉矶分校的研究和教育。

This award facilitates scientific research using the large, new, computational resource named Blue Waters being developed by IBM and scheduled to be deployed at the University of Illinois. It provides travel funds to support technical coordination between the principal investigators, the Blue Waters project team and the vendor technical team. The project team will use Blue Waters to advance the joint research goals of the UCLA Simulation of Plasmas Group and the OSIRIS Consortium. Those research goals encompass four distinct plasma physics questions which rely on simulations using particle in cell (PIC) algorithms. These algorithms are implemented in six different codes maintained by the UCLA Plasma Simulation Group and the OSIRIS Consortium. The project will bring this PIC infrastructure to Blue Waters to address four plasma physics grand challenge simulations: first 3D simulation of an assembled fast ignition target with a size of interest for fusion energy; exploration of the mechanisms of cosmic accelerators associated with relativistic collisionless shocks; simulations with the necessary spatial resolution to explore relativistically moving plasma waves as an alternative accelerating structure (to current particle accelerators); regional 3D PIC simulations capable of identifying substorm onset in the Earth magnetotail. PIC codes are used to make scientific discoveries that impact diverse fields with significant societal impact such as high-energy physics, fusion energy, and reliability of communication satellites. The proposed research also has much synergy with the new Institute for Digital Research and Education (IDRE). This will allow results to broadly impact research and education at UCLA.