Method- and scheme-independent entropy production in turbulent kinetic simulations.

Numerical kinetic models of plasma turbulence require careful treatment of conserved quantities. In the collisionless limit, numerical dissipation can impact entropy in a non-controlled manner. In this paper, the impact of the error in entropy conservation is investigated. In a simulation of ion-acoustic turbulence, a large error ( 15 % ) in entropy conservation is found. Surprisingly, this error is independent of the numerical method, scheme, or number of grid points. Adding a collision operator resolves this issue, but only if the collision frequency is large enough that it modifies the qualitative time evolution of observables, such as electric field amplitude, anomalous resistivity, or phase-space structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]