Edison Liang – Codes
My group uses 3 different types of simulation codes to model relativistic plasma phenomena in high-energy astrophysics and intense laser-target interactions:
PIC Codes :
1. EPOCH (U. of Warwick-Ruhl, open-source version of PSC used at LLNL and Germany): 3D explicit, ok but not great for high-g. (Rice & LANL clusters)
2. ZOHAR (LLNL, detailed in classic book by Birdsall & Langdon): 2D explicit, excellent for high-g. (only on LLNL cluster).
3. ipic3d (KUL-Lapenta, still under development): 3D fully implicit, so for only for low-g regimes. (to be imported to Rice).
4. LSP (SAIC, commerical code, high license fee): 3D explicit. Has collisions and MHD options. (under negotiation for license).
5. PICiinGPU (German GPU code): 3D explicit (Rice and Georgia Tech GPU clusters, not sufficient memory for production).
6. NNS code (Noguchi-Nishimura-Sugiyama): 2D explicit includes radiation and rad. damping (Rice & LLNL clusters).
MHD codes
FLASH (U. of Chicago): 3D Eulerian, multi-physics includes radiation transport, nuclear physics, EOS, SR, laser coupling. 3T, kinetic ions … (Rice and LANL clusters).
HARM (U. of Illinois): 2D Eulerian, axi-symmetric polar grid only. multi-physics includes radiation, GR, 1T (Rice clusters).
ATHENA (Princeton): 3D Eulerian, multi-physics includes radiation, 3T, gravity, SR, shear box…(Rice clusters).
Hyades (Commerical code, license fee): 1D Lagrangian, multi-fluid, EOS, laser coupling, radiation, 3T….(Rice cluster).
MC codes:
1. GEANT4 (CERN): 3D. has all high-energy NPP processes. fixed background. lacks lower energy physics. (Rice clusters).
2. Rice-OU Radiation Code: 2D slab, sphere or cylinder grids only. Includes most astrophysics radiation processes. FP solvers for coupled particle distributions (Rice clusters).
3. MK Compton code: 1D slab, sphere or cylinder grid only. Time-independent. Fixed thermal or nonthermal electron distributions. Fast and simple: ideal for training beginning and undergrad students in MC.