Is There Free Software Capable of Simulating Fusion in Large Atomic Systems?

[l0st]

In a nutshell: is there any free software, which can take as input full description of a relatively large system (20-100 light atoms + photons), simulate its evolution over a period of time, and tell the probability of fusion over that time?

If there's no such thing available, how close could one get to it with existing software?

 

[phyzguy]

I don't think anybody simulates fusion at the level of atoms. It would take a huge number of atoms to simulate even a small fluid volume, I think most simulation is done using fluid dynamics codes where you treat the plasma as a fluid characterized by a composition, temperature, pressure, magnetic field, etc. You can then write the rate of fusion as a function of the fluid variables. There are several open source MHD codes that can simulate fusion plasmas. Most of these were developed for astrophysical applications. One example is Athena.

This paper gives some details on simulations using fluid dynamics codes at NIF.