156 research outputs found
GEMPIC: Geometric ElectroMagnetic Particle-In-Cell Methods
We present a novel framework for Finite Element Particle-in-Cell methods
based on the discretization of the underlying Hamiltonian structure of the
Vlasov-Maxwell system. We derive a semi-discrete Poisson bracket, which retains
the defining properties of a bracket, anti-symmetry and the Jacobi identity, as
well as conservation of its Casimir invariants, implying that the semi-discrete
system is still a Hamiltonian system. In order to obtain a fully discrete
Poisson integrator, the semi-discrete bracket is used in conjunction with
Hamiltonian splitting methods for integration in time. Techniques from Finite
Element Exterior Calculus ensure conservation of the divergence of the magnetic
field and Gauss' law as well as stability of the field solver. The resulting
methods are gauge invariant, feature exact charge conservation and show
excellent long-time energy and momentum behaviour. Due to the generality of our
framework, these conservation properties are guaranteed independently of a
particular choice of the Finite Element basis, as long as the corresponding
Finite Element spaces satisfy certain compatibility conditions.Comment: 57 Page
Metriplectic Integrators for the Landau Collision Operator
We present a novel framework for addressing the nonlinear Landau collision
integral in terms of finite element and other subspace projection methods. We
employ the underlying metriplectic structure of the Landau collision integral
and, using a Galerkin discretization for the velocity space, we transform the
infinite-dimensional system into a finite-dimensional, time-continuous
metriplectic system. Temporal discretization is accomplished using the concept
of discrete gradients. The conservation of energy, momentum, and particle
densities, as well as the production of entropy is demonstrated algebraically
for the fully discrete system. Due to the generality of our approach, the
conservation properties and the monotonic behavior of entropy are guaranteed
for finite element discretizations in general, independently of the mesh
configuration.Comment: 24 pages. Comments welcom
A strategy to suppress recurrence in grid-based Vlasov solvers
In this paper we propose a strategy to suppress the recurrence effect present
in grid-based Vlasov solvers. This method is formulated by introducing a cutoff
frequency in Fourier space. Since this cutoff only has to be performed after a
number of time steps, the scheme can be implemented efficiently and can
relatively easily be incorporated into existing Vlasov solvers. Furthermore,
the scheme proposed retains the advantage of grid-based methods in that high
accuracy can be achieved. This is due to the fact that in contrast to the
scheme proposed by Abbasi et al. no statistical noise is introduced into the
simulation. We will illustrate the utility of the method proposed by performing
a number of numerical simulations, including the plasma echo phenomenon, using
a discontinuous Galerkin approximation in space and a Strang splitting based
time integration
Energy-conserving discontinuous Galerkin methods for the Vlasov-Amp\`{e}re system
In this paper, we propose energy-conserving numerical schemes for the
Vlasov-Amp\`{e}re (VA) systems. The VA system is a model used to describe the
evolution of probability density function of charged particles under self
consistent electric field in plasmas. It conserves many physical quantities,
including the total energy which is comprised of the kinetic and electric
energy. Unlike the total particle number conservation, the total energy
conservation is challenging to achieve. For simulations in longer time ranges,
negligence of this fact could cause unphysical results, such as plasma self
heating or cooling. In this paper, we develop the first Eulerian solvers that
can preserve fully discrete total energy conservation. The main components of
our solvers include explicit or implicit energy-conserving temporal
discretizations, an energy-conserving operator splitting for the VA equation
and discontinuous Galerkin finite element methods for the spatial
discretizations. We validate our schemes by rigorous derivations and benchmark
numerical examples such as Landau damping, two-stream instability and
bump-on-tail instability
A discontinuous Galerkin method for the Vlasov-Poisson system
A discontinuous Galerkin method for approximating the Vlasov-Poisson system
of equations describing the time evolution of a collisionless plasma is
proposed. The method is mass conservative and, in the case that piecewise
constant functions are used as a basis, the method preserves the positivity of
the electron distribution function and weakly enforces continuity of the
electric field through mesh interfaces and boundary conditions. The performance
of the method is investigated by computing several examples and error estimates
associated system's approximation are stated. In particular, computed results
are benchmarked against established theoretical results for linear advection
and the phenomenon of linear Landau damping for both the Maxwell and Lorentz
distributions. Moreover, two nonlinear problems are considered: nonlinear
Landau damping and a version of the two-stream instability are computed. For
the latter, fine scale details of the resulting long-time BGK-like state are
presented. Conservation laws are examined and various comparisons to theory are
made. The results obtained demonstrate that the discontinuous Galerkin method
is a viable option for integrating the Vlasov-Poisson system.Comment: To appear in Journal for Computational Physics, 2011. 63 pages, 86
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