LAPS: An MPI-parallelized 3D pseudo-spectral Hall-MHD simulation code incorporating the expanding box model

Numerical simulations have been an increasingly important tool in space physics. Here, we introduce an open-source three-dimensional compressible Hall-Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation code LAPS (UCLA-Pseudo-Spectral, https://github.com/chenshihelio/LAPS). The code adopts a pseudo-spectral method based on Fourier Transform to evaluate spatial derivatives, and third-order explicit Runge-Kutta method for time advancement. It is parallelized using Message-Passing-Interface (MPI) with a “pencil” parallelization strategy and has very high scalability. The Expanding-Box-Model is implemented to incorporate spherical expansion effects of the solar wind. We carry out test simulations based on four classic (Hall)-MHD processes, namely, 1) incompressible Hall-MHD waves, 2) incompressible tearing mode instability, 3) Orszag-Tang vortex, and 4) parametric decay instability. The test results agree perfectly with theory predictions and results of previous studies. Given all its features, LAPS is a powerful tool for large-scale simulations of solar wind turbulence as well as other MHD and Hall-MHD processes happening in space.