Lattice simulations of inflation

The scalar field theory of cosmological inflation constitutes nowadays one of the preferred scenarios for the physics of the early universe. In this paper we aim at studying the inflationary universe making use of a numerical lattice simulation. Various lattice codes have been written in the last decades and have been extensively used for understating the reheating phase of the universe, but they have never been used to study the inflationary phase itself far from the end of inflation (i.e. about 50 e-folds before the end of inflation). In this paper we use a lattice simulation to reproduce the well-known results of some simple models of single-field inflation, particularly for the scalar field perturbation. The main model that we consider is the standard slow-roll inflation with an harmonic potential for the inflaton field. We explore the technical aspects that need to be accounted for in order to reproduce with precision the nearly scale invariant power spectrum of inflaton perturbations. We also consider the case of a step potential, and show that the simulation is able to correctly reproduce the oscillatory features in the power spectrum of this model. Even if a lattice simulation is not needed in these cases, that are well within the regime of validity of linear perturbation theory, this sets the basis to future work on using lattice simulations to study more complicated models of inflation.

Typhoon: A vortex-lattice code for assessing dynamic stability characteristics of hydrofoil crafts

In this paper an open-source implementation of the vortex-lattice method to perform a dynamic stability analysis for hydrofoil crafts is discussed. The difference with existing vortex-lattice codes is the addition of a free-surface boundary condition which is needed to analyse surface piercing foils. This code, called Typhoon, can be used to perform a dynamic stability analysis (DSA) on hydrofoil vessels. The goal of this code is to have an easy-to-use and cheap alternative to compare different designs in early design stages. This paper gives a brief background to all the concepts used, followed by a short theoretical explanation of the vortex-lattice method. The second part of this paper focuses on a practical example of how this code can be used on an example.

3-D COUPLED SIMULATION OF A VVER 1000 WITH PARCS/ATHLET

A new OECD/NEA benchmark entitled “Reactivity compensation with diluted boron by stepwise insertion of control rod cluster” is starting. This benchmark, based on high quality measurements performed at the NPP Rostov Unit 2, aims to validate and assess high fidelity multi-physics simulation code capabilities. The Benchmark is divided in two phases: assembly wise and pin-by-pin resolution of steady-state and transient multi-physics problems. Multi-physics simulation requires the generation of parametrized few-group cross-sections. This task used to be done with deterministic (2-D) lattice codes, but in the past few years the Monte-Carlo code SERPENT has demonstrate its ability to generate accurate few-group homogenized cross-section without approximations, neither on the geometry nor in the nuclear data. Since the whole core SERPENT models for production of such cross-section libraries would be computationally costly (and the standard 2-D approach may introduce unnecessary large approximations), 3-D models of each assembly type in infinite radial lattice configurations have been created. These cross-sections are then used to evaluate effective multiplication factors for different core configurations with the diffusion code PARCS. The results are compared with the reference SERPENT calculations. In the next step, a thermal-hydraulic model with the system code ATHLET applying an assembly-wise description of the core (i.e. one channel per fuel assembly) has been developed for coupled PARCS/ATHLET transient test calculations. This paper describes in detail the models and techniques used for the generation of the few-group parameterized cross section libraries, the PARCS model and the ATHLET model. Additionally, a simple exercise with coupled code system PARCS/ATHLET is presented and analysed.