Hybrid-VPIC Code and Applications

Hybrid-VPIC is built on the high-performance particle-in-cell code VPIC [1]. It combines a massless fluid electron model with a kinetic PIC ion model, allowing simulations of much larger systems where ion kinetics are important but the electrons are fluid-like. In addition to a standard explicit hybrid PIC algorithm, Hybrid-VPIC includes models for Coulomb collisions between particle ions and the electron fluid [2], fusion burn, electron heat transport in collisional multi-ion plasmas [3], and various open boundary conditions. Example applications include: interfacial mix in HED settings driven by ambipolar diffusion or by hydrodynamic instabilities; electromagnetic instabilities upstream of planetary shocks; the global dayside magnetopshere of Mercury; particle acceleration during magnetic reconnection; ionized debris transport after the 1962 Starfish high-altitude nuclear test; and interchange modes in magnetic mirror fusion devices. (LA-UR-22-25935)

[1] Bowers et al. Phys. of Plasmas, 15(5), 055703 (2008).

[2] Lemons et al. J. of Comp. Phys., 228(5), 1391-1403 (2009).

[3] Simakov & Molvig, Phys. of Plasmas, 21(2), 024503 (2014).