Load management strategy for Particle-In-Cell simulations in high energy particle acceleration

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment Vol. 829; pp. 418 - 421
• Main Authors: Beck, A., Frederiksen, J.T., Dérouillat, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.09.2016
• Subjects: Algorithms; Bubble regime; Byproducts; Computation; Computer simulation; Dynamic load balancing; Electron self-injection; Laser wakefield acceleration; Lasers; Mathematical models; Particle acceleration; Particle in cell technique; Particle-in-cell simulations; Petawatt laser; Photon-Plasma; Relativistic self-focusing; SMILEI; SMILEI; Photon-Plasma; Bubble regime; Dynamic load balancing; Relativistic self-focusing; Petawatt laser; Laser wakefield acceleration; Particle-in-cell simulations; Electron self-injection
• ISSN: 0168-9002; 1872-9576
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2016.03.112

In the wake of the intense effort made for the experimental CILEX project, numerical simulation campaigns have been carried out in order to finalize the design of the facility and to identify optimal laser and plasma parameters. These simulations bring, of course, important insight into the fundamental physics at play. As a by-product, they also characterize the quality of our theoretical and numerical models. In this paper, we compare the results given by different codes and point out algorithmic limitations both in terms of physical accuracy and computational performances. These limitations are illustrated in the context of electron laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA). The main limitation we identify in state-of-the-art Particle-In-Cell (PIC) codes is computational load imbalance. We propose an innovative algorithm to deal with this specific issue as well as milestones towards a modern, accurate high-performance PIC code for high energy particle acceleration.