Speaker
Description
The kinetic Particle-In-Cell (PIC) method has become an essential tool for studying plasma interactions and particle acceleration in both laboratory experiments and space/astrophysical environments. Although several open-source codes provide valuable platforms for these studies, many suffer from limited user-friendliness, difficulty in problem setup, and inadequate documentation, making them challenging to use effectively. To address these challenges, we have developed SHAKTI, a user-friendly, multi-dimensional electromagnetic PIC code. Designed with a modular architecture and adaptable physics modules, SHAKTI enhances computational efficiency and robustness. In this poster presentation, I will detail SHAKTI’s methodologies, key features, test problems (such as cosmic ray acceleration in shocks), and innovative techniques used in order to reduce computational costs. This work represents a step toward making advanced kinetic plasma simulations more accessible to the research community.