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Multiple-scale kinetic simulations with the energy conserving semi-implicit particle in cell method

Part of: PLA The Vlasov Equation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 April 2017

Giovanni Lapenta ,
Diego Gonzalez-Herrero  and
Elisabetta Boella
Giovanni Lapenta*
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, KU Leuven, University of Leuven, Belgium
Diego Gonzalez-Herrero
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, KU Leuven, University of Leuven, Belgium
Elisabetta Boella
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, KU Leuven, University of Leuven, Belgium
*
†Email address for correspondence: valsusa@gmail.com
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Abstract

The recently developed energy conserving semi-implicit method (ECsim) for particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation is applied to multiple-scale problems where the electron-scale physics needs to be only partially retained and the interest is on the macroscopic or ion-scale processes. Unlike hybrid methods, the ECsim is capable of providing kinetic electron information, such as wave–electron interaction (Landau damping or cyclotron resonance) and non-Maxwellian electron velocity distributions. However, like hybrid methods, the ECsim does not need to resolve all electron scales, allowing time steps and grid spacings orders of magnitude larger than in explicit PIC schemes. The additional advantage of the ECsim is that the stability at large scale is obtained while conserving energy exactly. Three examples are presented: ion acoustic waves, electron acoustic instability and reconnection processes.

Keywords

astrophysical plasmas
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 83 , Issue 2 , April 2017 , 705830205
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Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2017 

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