A gyrokinetic continuum code based on the numerical Lie transform (NLT) method

Abstract

In this work, we report a novel gyrokinetic simulation method named numerical Lie transform (NLT), which depends on a new physical model derived from the I-transform theory. In this model, the perturbed motion of a particle is decoupled from the unperturbed motion. Due to this property, the unperturbed orbit can be computed in advance and saved as numerical tables for real-time computation. A 4D tensor B-spline interpolation module is developed and applied with the semi-Lagrangian scheme to avoid operator splitting. The NLT code is verified by the Rosenbluth-Hinton test and the linear ITG Cyclone test.