Milestone in predicting core plasma turbulence: successful multi-channel validation of the gyrokinetic code GENE
Abstract
On the basis of several recent breakthroughs in fusion research, many activities have been launched around the world to develop fusion power plants on the fastest possible time scale. In this context, high-fidelity simulations of the plasma behavior on large supercomputers provide one of the main pathways to accelerating progress by guiding crucial design decisions. When it comes to determining the energy confinement time of a magnetic confinement fusion device, which is a key quantity of interest, gyrokinetic turbulence simulations are considered the approach of choice – but the question, whether they are really able to reliably predict the plasma behavior is still open. The present study addresses this important issue by means of careful comparisons between state-of-the-art gyrokinetic turbulence simulations with the GENE code and experimental observations in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak for an unprecedented number of simultaneous plasma observables.
Related
- Mitigation of Initial Transients in Total-f Gyrokinetic Turbulence Simulations Using Neoclassically Relaxed Distribution Function
- A Pre-trained Variational Autoencoder for Gyrokinetic Plasma Turbulence Surrogate Modeling
- Global Gyrokinetic Simulations of Electromagnetic Turbulence in STEP
- MGKDB: An IMAS-aligned multicode gyrokinetic simulation database for reproducible fusion turbulence modeling and data-driven analysis
- Predicting Negative Triangularity Edge Confinement with a Neutral-Coupled Full-f Gyrokinetic Model
BibTeX
@article{hofler2026milestone,
title = {{Milestone in predicting core plasma turbulence: successful multi-channel validation of the gyrokinetic code GENE}},
author = {Klara Höfler and Tobias Görler and Tim Happel and Carsten Lechte and Pedro Molina and Michael Bergmann and Rachel Bielajew and Garrard Conway and Pierre David and Severin Denk and Rainer Fischer and Pascale Hennequin and Frank Jenko and Rachael Mcdermott and Anne White and Ulrich Stroth},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-025-56997-2},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-04999643v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Milestone in predicting core plasma turbulence: successful multi-channel validation of the gyrokinetic code GENE
AU - Klara Höfler
AU - Tobias Görler
AU - Tim Happel
AU - Carsten Lechte
AU - Pedro Molina
AU - Michael Bergmann
AU - Rachel Bielajew
AU - Garrard Conway
AU - Pierre David
AU - Severin Denk
AU - Rainer Fischer
AU - Pascale Hennequin
AU - Frank Jenko
AU - Rachael Mcdermott
AU - Anne White
AU - Ulrich Stroth
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/08
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-025-56997-2
UR - https://hal.science/hal-04999643v1
AB - On the basis of several recent breakthroughs in fusion research, many activities have been launched around the world to develop fusion power plants on the fastest possible time scale. In this context, high-fidelity simulations of the plasma behavior on large supercomputers provide one of the main pathways to accelerating progress by guiding crucial design decisions. When it comes to determining the energy confinement time of a magnetic confinement fusion device, which is a key quantity of interest, gyrokinetic turbulence simulations are considered the approach of choice – but the question, whether they are really able to reliably predict the plasma behavior is still open. The present study addresses this important issue by means of careful comparisons between state-of-the-art gyrokinetic turbulence simulations with the GENE code and experimental observations in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak for an unprecedented number of simultaneous plasma observables.
SN - 2041-1723
SN - 2041-1723
ER -