Kinetic simulations of turbulent fusion plasmas

Idomura, Yasuhiro   ; Watanabe, Tomohiko*; Sugama, Hideo*

In contrast to neutral fluid turbulence described in three-dimensional (3D) configuration space, collisionless magnetised plasma turbulence has been studied using the gyrokinetic model, which is a reduced kinetic model of a plasma in 5D phase space. Recent advances in computer technology and simulation models enabled a direct numerical simulation of plasma turbulence in a toroidal configuration with experimentally relevant parameters. Such kinetic simulations have been established as an essential tool for studying turbulent transport in a fusion plasma. This overview summarises progress in kinetic simulations of turbulent fusion plasmas focusing on physical and numerical models and physical findings obtained from 5D gyrokinetic simulations.