Numerical methods for the two-dimensional Vlasov–Poisson equation in the finite Larmor radius approximation regime

Philippe Chartier (1) , Nicolas Crouseilles (1) , Xiaofei Zhao (1)

1 MINGUS - Multi-scale numerical geometric schemes

In this paper, we consider numerical methods for solving the two-dimensional Vlasov–Poisson equation in the finite Larmor radius approximation regime. The model describes the behaviour of charged particles under a strong external magnetic field and the finite Larmor radius scaling. We discretise the equation under Particle-in-Cell method, where the characteristics equations are highly oscillatory system in the limit regime. We apply popular numerical integrators including splitting methods, multi-revolution composition methods, two-scale formulation method and limit solver to integrate the characteristics. We then highlight the strengths and drawbacks of each method. Finally, numerical experiments are presented, and comparisons on the accuracy, efficiency and long-time behaviour of the methods are made, pointing to the method with the best performance for this problem.

Domaines: Analyse numérique [math.NA]; Physique des plasmas [physics.plasm-ph]

Philippe Chartier, Nicolas Crouseilles, Xiaofei Zhao. Numerical methods for the two-dimensional Vlasov–Poisson equation in the finite Larmor radius approximation regime. Journal of Computational Physics, 2018, 375, pp.619-640. ⟨10.1016/j.jcp.2018.09.007⟩. ⟨hal-01920104⟩