Summary: Frequently asked questions

Can I use GKW?

You can obtain and use GKW for any purpose with minimal restrictions. Essentially you can make any changes to the source, and are not obliged to inform us or communicate these changes back to us (although we would welcome it if you did). Furthermore, you are free to redistribute the code to others under the terms of the license (see the LICENSE file), which is the GNU General Public License version 3.

We politely request that the effort made by us is recognised. In any publication that uses the results of GKW, either directly or indirectly, you should cite the CPC paper (1). (If you want to be kind to us you could additionally cite the original LINART paper (2) and/or the first paper in which GKW has been used (3).

What does GKW do?

GKW aims at solving the turbulent transport problem arising in tokamak plasmas. It solves the gyro-kinetic (the kinetic Vlasov equation averaged over the fast gyro-motion) equation on a fixed grid in the 5-dimensional space using a combination of finite difference and pseudo spectralmethods. Most of the applications of GKW up to now have concentrated on the transport of toroidal momentum, the influence of rotation on other transport channels, and the interaction between turbulence and islands. See our publications.

Which version of GKW do I need?

Details on the Documentation page.

How do I get the latest version of GKW?

You first need a git client (most linux distributions have it preinstalled, or distribute as a package, try git --help on the command line). Then follow the instructions here.

How do I compile?

Described on the Documentation page.

I am having a problem with my run

We may be able to help, but try first looking at the CPC paper and extensive documentation.