94 research outputs found
Laser ion acceleration using a solid target coupled with a low density layer
We investigate by particle-in-cell simulations in two and three dimensions
the laser-plasma interaction and the proton acceleration in multilayer targets
where a low density "near-critical" layer of a few micron thickness is added on
the illuminated side of a thin, high density layer. This target design can be
obtained by depositing a "foam" layer on a thin metallic foil. The presence of
the near-critical plasma strongly increases both the conversion efficiency and
the energy of electrons and leads to enhanced acceleration of proton from a
rear side layer via the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration mechanism. The
electrons of the foam are strongly accelerated in the forward direction and
propagate on the rear side of the target building up a high electric field with
a relatively flat longitudinal profile. In these conditions the maximum proton
energy is up to three times higher than in the case of the bare solid target.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures. Submitted to Physical Review
Simulation of the laser-plasma acceleration for the PLASMONX project with the PIC code ALaDyn
In this paper we will briefly introduce laser–plasma acceleration for electrons and present some numerical simulations. The simulations have been performed to find a suitable working point for one of the test experiments of the INFN–CNR PLASMONX project. FLAME (Frascati laser for acceleration and multidisciplinary experiments), a 300 TW Ti:Sa laser, is being installed and commissioned at Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LFN). The first pilot experiment SITE (self-injection test experiment) is planned for this year (2010). The simulations have been run using a fully self-consistent particle-in-cell code AlaDyn (Acceleration by LAser and DYNamics of charged particles) developed and maintained at the Department of Physics at the University of Bologna within the PLAMSONX project
Self-gravity at the scale of the polar cell
We present the exact calculus of the gravitational potential and acceleration
along the symmetry axis of a plane, homogeneous, polar cell as a function of
mean radius a, radial extension e, and opening angle f. Accurate approximations
are derived in the limit of high numerical resolution at the geometrical mean
of the inner and outer radii (a key-position in current FFT-based Poisson
solvers). Our results are the full extension of the approximate formula given
in the textbook of Binney & Tremaine to all resolutions. We also clarify
definitely the question about the existence (or not) of self-forces in polar
cells. We find that there is always a self-force at radius except if the
shape factor a.f/e reaches ~ 3.531, asymptotically. Such cells are therefore
well suited to build a polar mesh for high resolution simulations of
self-gravitating media in two dimensions. A by-product of this study is a newly
discovered indefinite integral involving complete elliptic integral of the
first kind over modulus.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, A&A accepte
An Unstaggered Constrained Transport Method for the 3D Ideal Magnetohydrodynamic Equations
Numerical methods for solving the ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations
in more than one space dimension must either confront the challenge of
controlling errors in the discrete divergence of the magnetic field, or else be
faced with nonlinear numerical instabilities. One approach for controlling the
discrete divergence is through a so-called constrained transport method, which
is based on first predicting a magnetic field through a standard finite volume
solver, and then correcting this field through the appropriate use of a
magnetic vector potential. In this work we develop a constrained transport
method for the 3D ideal MHD equations that is based on a high-resolution wave
propagation scheme. Our proposed scheme is the 3D extension of the 2D scheme
developed by Rossmanith [SIAM J. Sci. Comp. 28, 1766 (2006)], and is based on
the high-resolution wave propagation method of Langseth and LeVeque [J. Comp.
Phys. 165, 126 (2000)]. In particular, in our extension we take great care to
maintain the three most important properties of the 2D scheme: (1) all
quantities, including all components of the magnetic field and magnetic
potential, are treated as cell-centered; (2) we develop a high-resolution wave
propagation scheme for evolving the magnetic potential; and (3) we develop a
wave limiting approach that is applied during the vector potential evolution,
which controls unphysical oscillations in the magnetic field. One of the key
numerical difficulties that is novel to 3D is that the transport equation that
must be solved for the magnetic vector potential is only weakly hyperbolic. In
presenting our numerical algorithm we describe how to numerically handle this
problem of weak hyperbolicity, as well as how to choose an appropriate gauge
condition. The resulting scheme is applied to several numerical test cases.Comment: 46 pages, 12 figure
AZEuS: An Adaptive Zone Eulerian Scheme for Computational MHD
A new adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) version of the ZEUS-3D astrophysical
magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) fluid code, AZEuS, is described. The AMR module in
AZEuS has been completely adapted to the staggered mesh that characterises the
ZEUS family of codes, on which scalar quantities are zone-centred and vector
components are face-centred. In addition, for applications using static grids,
it is necessary to use higher-order interpolations for prolongation to minimise
the errors caused by waves crossing from a grid of one resolution to another.
Finally, solutions to test problems in 1-, 2-, and 3-dimensions in both
Cartesian and spherical coordinates are presented.Comment: 52 pages, 17 figures; Accepted for publication in ApJ
An Unsplit Godunov Method for Ideal MHD via Constrained Transport in Three Dimensions
We present a single step, second-order accurate Godunov scheme for ideal MHD
which is an extension of the method described by Gardiner & Stone (2005) to
three dimensions. This algorithm combines the corner transport upwind (CTU)
method of Colella for multidimensional integration, and the constrained
transport (CT) algorithm for preserving the divergence-free constraint on the
magnetic field. We describe the calculation of the PPM interface states for 3D
ideal MHD which must include multidimensional ``MHD source terms'' and
naturally respect the balance implicit in these terms by the condition. We compare two different forms for the CTU integration
algorithm which require either 6- or 12-solutions of the Riemann problem per
cell per time-step, and present a detailed description of the 6-solve
algorithm. Finally, we present solutions for test problems to demonstrate the
accuracy and robustness of the algorithm.Comment: Extended version of the paper accepted for publication in JC
High Order Upwind Schemes for Multidimensional Magnetohydrodynamics
A general method for constructing high order upwind schemes for
multidimensional magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), having as a main built-in
condition the divergence-free constraint \divb=0 for the magnetic field
vector \bb, is proposed. The suggested procedure is based on {\em
consistency} arguments, by taking into account the specific operator structure
of MHD equations with respect to the reference Euler equations of gas-dynamics.
This approach leads in a natural way to a staggered representation of the \bb
field numerical data where the divergence-free condition in the cell-averaged
form, corresponding to second order accurate numerical derivatives, is exactly
fulfilled. To extend this property to higher order schemes, we then give
general prescriptions to satisfy a order accurate \divb=0
relation for any numerical \bb field having a order interpolation
accuracy. Consistency arguments lead also to a proper formulation of the upwind
procedures needed to integrate the induction equations, assuring the exact
conservation in time of the divergence-free condition and the related
continuity properties for the \bb vector components. As an application, a
third order code to simulate multidimensional MHD flows of astrophysical
interest is developed using ENO-based reconstruction algorithms. Several test
problems to illustrate and validate the proposed approach are finally
presented.Comment: 34 pages, including 14 figure
Lopsidedness of cluster galaxies in modified gravity
We point out an interesting theoretical prediction for elliptical galaxies
residing inside galaxy clusters in the framework of modified Newtonian dynamics
(MOND), that could be used to test this paradigm. Apart from the central
brightest cluster galaxy, other galaxies close enough to the centre experience
a strong gravitational influence from the other galaxies of the cluster. This
influence manifests itself only as tides in standard Newtonian gravity, meaning
that the systematic acceleration of the centre of mass of the galaxy has no
consequence. However, in the context of MOND, a consequence of the breaking of
the strong equivalence principle is that the systematic acceleration changes
the own self-gravity of the galaxy. We show here that, in this framework,
initially axisymmetric elliptical galaxies become lopsided along the external
field's direction, and that the centroid of the galaxy, defined by the outer
density contours, is shifted by a few hundreds parsecs with respect to the
densest point.Comment: accepted for publication in JCA
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