Verification of linear resistive tearing instability with gyrokinetic particle code VirtEx.

Current-driven resistive tearing instability is verified using the newly developed global first-principles particle-in-cell code called VirtEx, which was coded from scratch in conformity with the C++'11 specifications. The tearing instability is first verified in the fluid limit in a cylinder geometry by ignoring the gyrokinetic effect of ions, and the numerical results agree well with the analytical predictions of the resistive tearing theory. Then, the effect of toroidicity on resistive tearing instability is investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]