AbstractThe BBN TC2000 is a multiple instruction, multiple data (MIMD) machine that combines a physically distributed memory with a logically shared memory programming environment using the unique Butterfly switch. Particle‐in‐cell (PIC) plasma simulations model the interaction of charged particles with electric and magnetic fields. This paper describes the implementation of both a 1‐D electrostatic and a 2 1/2‐D electromagnetic PIC (particle‐in‐cell) plasma simulation code on a BBN TC2000. Performance is compared to implementation of the same code on the shared memory Sequent Ba