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When the distribution function of plasma particles stays close to some analytically known function, statistical noise inherent to Monte Carlo simulations can be greatly reduced by introducing this function as a control variate in the computation of the velocity moments. Such a method, even though it can be naturally applied to nonlinear simulations, has originally emerged from linearised simulations and is usually called the δf particle-in-cell (PIC) method. In the past, the method has been extended to also handle collisions. This resulted in a two weight scheme which is known to produce a pronounced weight growth problem which rapidly makes it inefficient as a control variate method for variance reduction. In this work we analyse the weight growth problem within a simple example, which allows us to overcome its pathological behaviour. We also introduce a new split algorithm based on switching the control variate for PIC simulations with collisions. A key element of our algorithm is a new weight smoothing operator which enables us to obtain a significant noise reduction both in the presence of collisions and in the deep nonlinear phase of PIC simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a deterministic discrete-particle simulation approach, the Linearly-Transformed Particle-In-Cell (LTPIC) method, that employs linear deformations of the particles to reduce the noise traditionally associated with particle schemes. Formally, transforming the particles is justified by local first order expansions of the characteristic flow in phase space. In practice the method amounts of using deformation matrices within the particle shape functions; these matrices are updated via local evaluations of the forward numerical flow. Because it is necessary to periodically remap the particles on a regular grid to avoid excessively deforming their shapes, the method can be seen as a development of Denavit's Forward Semi-Lagrangian (FSL) scheme (Denavit, 1972 [8] ). However, it has recently been established (Campos Pinto, 2012 [20] ) that the underlying Linearly-Transformed Particle scheme converges for abstract transport problems, with no need to remap the particles; deforming the particles can thus be seen as a way to significantly lower the remapping frequency needed in the FSL schemes, and hence the associated numerical diffusion. To couple the method with electrostatic field solvers, two specific charge deposition schemes are examined, and their performance compared with that of the standard deposition method. Finally, numerical 1d1v simulations involving benchmark test cases and halo formation in an initially mismatched thermal sheet beam demonstrate some advantages of our LTPIC scheme over the classical PIC and FSL methods. Benchmarked test cases also indicate that, for numerical choices involving similar computational effort, the LTPIC method is capable of accuracy comparable to or exceeding that of state-of-the-art, high-resolution Vlasov schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The notion of B-spline based discrete differential forms is recalled and along with a Finite Element Hodge operator, it is used to design new numerical methods for solving the Vlasov–Poisson system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Solving the time-dependent Maxwell equations in an unbounded domain requires the introduction of artificial absorbing boundary conditions (ABCs) designed to minimize the amplitude of the parasitic waves reflected by the artificial frontier of the domain of computation. The construction of such ABCs needs to perform a rigorous mathematical and numerical analysis, in order to obtain a well-posed problem, from a mathematical point of view, and a stable algorithm, from a numerical point of view. In a previous study, Joly and Mercier (1989) have proposed a new second-order ABC for Maxwell’s equation in dimension 3, well adapted to a variational approach. In this paper, we present how to apply the second-order ABC proposed in in the framework of a finite element method. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This work is devoted to the modeling of space charge dominated particle beams in the paraxial approximation with several types of external focusing fields (uniform, periodic and alternating gradient). A solid mathematical background for numerical beam simulation is established. The Kapchinsky–Vladimirsky (KV) distribution which can be matched exactly or numerically to the focusing channel is first studied. Then the matched KV beam is used to approximately match arbitrary beams. Moreover, Waterbag and Maxwell–Boltzmann beams are studied to give analytical solution for code validation. Finally, numerical simulations are presented in different configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of a large external magnetic field in a plasma introduces an additional time-scale which is very constraining for the numerical simulation. Hence it is very useful to introduce averaged models which remove this time-scale. However, depending on other parameters of the plasma, different starting models for the asymptotic analysis may be considered. We introduce here a generic framework for our analysis which fits many of the possible regimes and apply it in particular to justify the finite Larmor radius approximation both in the linear case and in the nonlinear case in the plane transverse to the magnetic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by the difficulty arising in the numerical simulation of the movement of charged particles in presence of a large external magnetic field, which adds an additional time scale and thus imposes to use a much smaller time step, we perform in this paper a homogenization of the Vlasov equation and the Vlasov–Poisson system which yield approximate equations describing the mean behavior of the particles. The convergence proof is based on the two‐scale convergence tools introduced by N’Guetseng and Allaire. We also consider the case where, in addition to the magnetic field, a large external electric field orthogonal to the magnetic field and of the same magnitude is applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Systematic derivation of energy-conserving propagators for Vlasov-Maxwell simulations. • Propagators based on discrete gradients and antisymmetric Poisson splitting. • Exact discrete energy conservation for semi-implicit method. • Exact discrete energy conservation and Gauss conservation for implicit method. • Substepping for efficient multiscale simulations. This paper discusses energy-conserving time-discretizations for finite element particle-in-cell discretizations of the Vlasov–Maxwell system. A geometric spatially discrete system can be obtained using a standard particle-in-cell discretization of the particle distribution and compatible finite element spaces for the fields to discretize the Poisson bracket of the Vlasov–Maxwell model (see Kraus et al. (2017) [1]). In this paper, we derive energy-conserving time-discretizations based on the discrete gradient method applied to an antisymmetric splitting of the Poisson matrix. Firstly, we propose a semi-implicit method based on a splitting that yields constant Poisson matrices in each substep. Moreover, we devise an alternative discrete gradient that yields a time discretization that can additionally conserve Gauss' law. Finally, we explain how substepping for fast species dynamics can be incorporated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerical schemes that preserve the structure of the kinetic equations can provide stable simulation results over a long time. An electromagnetic particle-in-cell solver for the Vlasov-- Maxwell equations that preserves at the discrete level the noncanonical Hamiltonian structure of the Vlasov--Maxwell equations has been presented in [Kraus et al., J. Plasma Phys., 83 (2017)]. While the original formulation has been obtained for Cartesian coordinates, we extend the formulation to curvilinear coordinates in this paper. For the discretization in time, we discuss several (semi-)implicit methods either based on a Hamiltonian splitting or a discrete gradient method combined with an antisymmetric splitting of the Poisson matrix and discuss their conservation properties and computational efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the presence of an inhomogeneous oscillatory electric field, charged particles experience a net force, averaged over the oscillatory timescale, known as the ponderomotive force. We derive a one-dimensional Hamiltonian model which self-consistently couples the electromagnetic field to a plasma which experiences the ponderomotive force. We derive a family of structure preserving discretizations of the model of varying order in space and time using conforming and broken finite element exterior calculus spectral element methods. In all variants of our discretization framework, the method is found to conserve the Casimir invariants of the continuous model to machine precision and the energy to the order of the splitting method used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main idea of the gyrokinetic dynamical reduction consists in a systematical removal of the fast scale motion (the gyromotion) from the dynamics of the plasma, resulting in a considerable simplification and a significant gain of computational time. The gyrokinetic Maxwell-Vlasov equations are nowadays implemented in for modeling (both laboratory and astrophysical) strongly magnetized plasmas. Different versions of the reduced set of equations exist, depending on the construction of the gyrokinetic reduction procedure and the approximations performed in the derivation. The purpose of this article is to explicitly show the connection between the general second order gyrokinetic Maxwell-Vlasov system issued from the modern gyrokinetic theory and the model currently implemented in the global electromagnetic Particle-in-Cell code ORB5. Necessary information about the modern gyrokinetic formalism is given together with the consistent derivation of the gyrokinetic Maxwell-Vlasov equations from first principles. The variational formulation of the dynamics is used to obtain the corresponding energy conservation law, which in turn is used for the verification of energy conservation diagnostics currently implemented in ORB5. This work fits within the context of the code verification project VeriGyro currently run at IPP Max-Planck Institut in collaboration with others European institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to review and classify the different methods that have been developed to enable stable long time simulations of the Vlasov–Maxwell equations and the Maxwell equations with given sources. These methods can be classified in two types: field correction methods and source correction methods. The field correction methods introduce new unknowns in the equations, for which additional boundary conditions are in some cases non trivial to find. The source correction consists in computing the sources so that they satisfy a discrete continuity equation compatible with a discrete Gauss’ law that needs to be defined in accordance with the discretization of the Maxwell propagation operator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a new, energy conserving, spectral element, discontinuous Galerkin method for the approximation of the Vlasov–Poisson system in arbitrary dimension, using Cartesian grids. The method is derived from the one proposed in [4] , with two modifications: energy conservation is obtained by a suitable projection operator acting on the solution of the Poisson problem, rather than by solving multiple Poisson problems, and all the integrals appearing in the finite element formulation are approximated with Gauss–Lobatto quadrature, thereby yielding a spectral element formulation. The resulting method has the following properties: exact energy conservation (up to errors introduced by the time discretization), stability (thanks to the use of upwind numerical fluxes), high order accuracy and high locality. For the time discretization, we consider both Runge–Kutta methods and exponential integrators, and show results for 1D and 2D cases (2D and 4D in phase space, respectively). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the canonical variables based numerical schemes of a hybrid model with kinetic ions and mass-less electrons. Two equivalent formulations of the hybrid model are presented with the vector potentials in different gauges and the distribution functions depending on canonical momentum (not velocity), which constitutes a pair of canonical variables with the position variable. Particle-in-cell methods are used for the distribution functions, and the vector potentials are discretized by the finite element methods in the framework of finite element exterior calculus. Splitting methods are used for the time discretizations. It is illustrated that the second formulation is numerically superior and the schemes constructed based on the anti-symmetric bracket proposed have better conservation properties and lower noise level, although the filters can be used to improve the schemes of the first formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this work, a new discretization scheme for the gyrokinetic quasi-neutrality equation is proposed. It is based on Isogeometric Analysis; the IGA which relies on NURBS functions, accommodates arbitrary coordinates and the use of complicated computation domains. Moreover, arbitrary high order degree of basis functions can be used and their regularity enables the use of a low number of elements. Here, this approach is successfully tested on elliptic problems like the quasi-neutrality equation arising in gyrokinetic models. In this last application, when polar coordinates are considered, a fast solver can be used and the non locality is dealt with a suitable decomposition which reduces the resolution of the gyrokinetic quasi-neutrality equation to a sequence of local 2D elliptic problems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Conservative methods for the numerical solution of the Vlasov equation are developed in the context of the one-dimensional splitting. In the case of constant advection, these methods and the traditional semi-Lagrangian ones are proven to be equivalent, but the conservative methods offer the possibility to add adequate filters in order to ensure the positivity. In the non-constant advection case, they present an alternative to the traditional semi-Lagrangian schemes which can suffer from bad mass conservation, in this time splitting setting. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A method for computing the numerical solution of Vlasov type equations on massively parallel computers is presented. In contrast with Particle In Cell methods which are known to be noisy, the method is based on a semi-Lagrangian algorithm that approaches the Vlasov equation on a grid of phase space. As this kind of method requires a huge computational effort, the simulations are carried out on parallel machines. To that purpose, we present a local cubic splines interpolation method based on a domain decomposition, e.g. devoted to a processor. Hermite boundary conditions between the domains, using ad hoc reconstruction of the derivatives, provide a good approximation of the global solution. The method is applied on various physical configurations which show the ability of the numerical scheme. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We study the two-scale asymptotics for a charged beam under the action of a rapidly oscillating external electric field. After proving the convergence to the correct asymptotic state, we develop a numerical method for solving the limit model involving two time scales and validate its efficiency for the simulation of long time beam evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When solving numerically approximations of the Vlasov–Maxwell equations, the source terms in Maxwell's equations coming from the numerical solution of the Vlasov equation do not generally satisfy the continuity equation which is required for Maxwell's equations to be well-posed. Hence it is necessary to introduce generalized Maxwell's equations which remain well-posed when there are errors in the sources. Different such formulations have been introduced previously. The aim of this paper is to perform their mathematical analysis and verify the existence and uniqueness of the solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we present new high‐order, semi‐Lagrangian schemes for solving the Vlasov‐Poisson system on an unstructured four‐dimensional phase‐space mesh. The method is based on the propagation of the distribution function and its jacobian by following the characteristic curves backward. Then the distribution function is reconstructed using high‐order and few diffusive interpolation operators coming from the finite element and the computer aided geometric design (CAGD) literature. Numerical tests in plasma physics and charged‐particle beam transport are investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the possibilities of applying structure-preserving numerical methods to a plasma hybrid model with kinetic ions and mass-less fluid electrons satisfying the quasi-neutrality relation. The numerical schemes are derived by finite element methods in the framework of finite element exterior calculus (FEEC) for field variables, Particle-In-Cell (PIC) methods for the Vlasov equation, and splitting methods in time based on an anti-symmetric bracket proposed. Conservation properties of energy, quasi-neutrality relation, positivity of density, and divergence-free property of the magnetic field are given irrespective of the used resolution and metric. Local quasi-interpolation is used for dealing with the current terms in order to make the proposed methods more efficient. The implementation has been done in the framework of the Python package STRUPHY [1] , and has been verified by extensive numerical experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solution of Poisson-like equations defined on a complex geometry is required for gyrokinetic simulations, which are important for the modelling of plasma turbulence in nuclear fusion devices such as the ITER tokamak. In this paper, we compare three existing solvers finely tuned to solve this problem, in terms of the accuracy of the solution, and their computational efficiency. We also consider practical implementation aspects, including the parallel efficiency of the code, potentially enabling an integration of the solvers in a state-of-the-art first-principle gyrokinetic simulation framework. The first, the Spline FEM solver, uses C 1 polar splines to construct a finite elements method which solves the equation on curvilinear coordinates. The resulting linear system is solved using a conjugate gradient method. The second, the GMGPolar solver, uses a symmetric finite difference method to discretise the differential equation. The resulting linear system is solved using a tailored geometric multigrid scheme, with a combination of zebra circle and radial line smoothers, together with an implicit extrapolation scheme. The third, the Embedded Boundary solver, uses a finite volumes method on Cartesian coordinates with an embedded boundary scheme. The resulting linear system is solved using a multigrid scheme. The Spline FEM solver is shown to be the most accurate. The GMGPolar solver is shown to use the least memory. The Embedded Boundary solver is shown to be the fastest in most cases. All three solvers are shown to be capable of solving the equation on a realistic non-analytical geometry. The Embedded Boundary solver is additionally used to attempt to solve an X-point geometry. • Solver comparison for the gyrokinetic Poisson-like equation on complex geometry. • High-order spline FEM solver based on C1 polar splines and conjugate gradient. • Curvilinear finite difference method using multigrid with low memory footprint. • Embedded boundary scheme with fast multigrid for simple X-point geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a rigorous derivation of the reduced MHD models with and without parallel velocity that are implemented in the non-linear MHD code JOREK. The model we obtain contains some terms that have been neglected in the implementation but might be relevant in the nonlinear phase. These are necessary to guarantee exact conservation with respect to the full MHD energy. For the second part of this work, we have replaced the linearized time stepping of JOREK by a nonlinear solver based on the Inexact Newton method including adaptive time stepping. We demonstrate that this approach is more robust especially with respect to numerical errors in the saturation phase of an instability and allows to use larger time steps in the non-linear phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper we present a new method for the numerical solution of the relativistic Vlasov–Maxwell system on a phase-space grid using an adaptive semi-Lagrangian method. The adaptivity is performed through a wavelet multiresolution analysis, which gives a powerful and natural refinement criterion based on the local measurement of the approximation error and regularity of the distribution function. Therefore, the multiscale expansion of the distribution function allows to get a sparse representation of the data and thus save memory space and CPU time. We apply this numerical scheme to reduced Vlasov–Maxwell systems arising in laser–plasma physics. Interaction of relativistically strong laser pulses with overdense plasma slabs is investigated. These Vlasov simulations revealed a rich variety of phenomena associated with the fast particle dynamics induced by electromagnetic waves as electron trapping, particle acceleration, and electron plasma wavebreaking. However, the wavelet based adaptive method that we developed here, does not yield significant improvements compared to Vlasov solvers on a uniform mesh due to the substantial overhead that the method introduces. Nonetheless they might be a first step towards more efficient adaptive solvers based on different ideas for the grid refinement or on a more efficient implementation. Here the Vlasov simulations are performed in a two-dimensional phase-space where the development of thin filaments, strongly amplified by relativistic effects requires an important increase of the total number of points of the phase-space grid as they get finer as time goes on. The adaptive method could be more useful in cases where these thin filaments that need to be resolved are a very small fraction of the hyper-volume, which arises in higher dimensions because of the surface-to-volume scaling and the essentially one-dimensional structure of the filaments. Moreover, the main way to improve the efficiency of the adaptive method is to increase the local character in phase-space of the numerical scheme, by considering multiscale reconstruction with more compact support and by replacing the semi-Lagrangian method with more local – in space – numerical scheme as compact finite difference schemes, discontinuous-Galerkin method or finite element residual schemes which are well suited for parallel domain decomposition techniques. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We describe the efficient algebraic reconstruction (EAR) method, which applies to cone-beam tomographic reconstruction problems with a circular symmetry. Three independent steps/stages are presented, which use two symmetries and a factorization of the point spread functions (PSFs), each reducing computing times and eventually storage in memory or hard drive. In the case of pinhole single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), we show how the EAR method can incorporate most of the physical and geometrical effects which change the PSF compared to the Dirac function assumed in analytical methods, thus showing improvements on reconstructed images. We also compare results obtained by the EAR method with a cubic grid implementation of an algebraic method and modeling of the PSF and we show that there is no significant loss of quality, despite the use of a noncubic grid for voxels in the EAR method. Data from a phantom, reconstructed with the EAR method, demonstrate 1.08-mm spatial tomographic resolution despite the use of a 1.5-mm pinhole SPECT device and several applications in rat and mouse imaging are shown. Finally, we discuss the conditions of application of the method when symmetries are broken, by considering the different parameters of the calibration and nonsymmetric physical effects such as attenuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]