Sarkas: A Fast Pure-Python Molecular Dynamics Suite for Non-Ideal Plasmas

Molecular Dynamics (MD) is a powerful tool for simulating complex dynamical systems. MD plays a central role in a diverse set of plasma subfields concerned with understanding mi-croscopic particles such as non-ideal dense plasmas. Historically, computational plasma physicists have developed their own codes; more recently, plasma physics models are being implemented in codes originally developed for other purposes. Such strategies require the plasma physicist to be part of the development process or have the skills and time to modify existing codes. Moreover, plasma physics observables are typically not available as post-processing packages. 

Here we present Sarkas: a fast pure-python MD suite for Non-Ideal Plasmas. Sarkas aims at lowering the entry barrier for computational plasma physics by providing a comprehensive MD suite complete of pre- and post-processing tools most common in plasma physics. It offers the ease of use of Python while being highly performant with execution speeds comparable to that of compiled languages. Its high-performance originates from the extensive use of NumPy arrays and Numba's just-in-time compilation. Sarkas is built in a modular fashion to allow easy implementation of additional features. It offers a variety of interaction potentials commonly used in plasma physics. Furthermore, Sarkas' built-in pre-processing and post-processing libraries for data analysis allow researchers to get publication-grade results in less time.