The Boris-Buneman particle pusher

A simple Python implementation of the Boris-Buneman particle pusher.

We then study the trajectory of a particle in ExB configuration and the magnetic configuration of the Tore-Supra tokamak in Cadarache, France.

This work was realised in collaboration with Lucas Fuster, in the context of a practical session of the Physics of Plasma and Fusion M. Sc. at Université Paris-Saclay and Sorbonne Université.

Running the scripts

Use the conda package manager and the requirements to create the corresponding Python environment. To do so, use the following instructions:

conda create --name boris --file requirements.txt
source activate boris
python3 the_file.py

You can execute three different scripts:

• main.py for the cyclotron rotation test case
• error.py to check the stability of the method vs. the timestep,
• ExB.py for the E x B case, with multiple particles,
• tokamak.py for a proton trapped in Tore-Supra, its energy and the magnetic field lines.

Thanks

I would like to thank Andrea Ciardi from the LERMA lab at OBSPM for putting together this practical, of which you may find the files here.

I also reiterate my thanks to Lucas Fuster, whose help was invaluable, especially, but not only, for the tokamak part of the program.