This paper discusses temporally continuous and discrete forms of the speed-limited particle-in-cell (SLPIC) method first treated by Werner et al. [Phys. Plasmas 25, 123512 (2018)]. The dispersion relation for a 1D1V electrostatic plasma whose fast particles are speed-limited is derived and analyzed. By examining the normal modes of this dispersion relation, we show that the imposed speed-limiting substantially reduces the frequency of fast electron plasma oscillations while preserving the correct physics of lower-frequency plasma dynamics (e.g., ion acoustic wave dispersion and damping). We then demonstrate how the time step constraints of conventional electrostatic particle-in-cell methods are relaxed by the speed-limiting approach, thus enabling larger time steps and faster simulations. These results indicate that the SLPIC method is a fast, accurate, and powerful technique for modeling plasmas wherein electron kinetic behavior is nontrivial (such that a fluid/Boltzmann representation for electrons is inadequate) but evolution is on ion timescales.
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June 2021
Research Article|
June 30 2021
Dispersion and the speed-limited particle-in-cell algorithm
Thomas G. Jenkins
;
Thomas G. Jenkins
a)
1
Tech-X Corporation
, 5621 Arapahoe Avenue Suite A, Boulder, Colorado 80303, USA
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]. URL: https://nucleus.txcorp.com/∼tgjenkins
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Gregory R. Werner
;
Gregory R. Werner
2
Center for Integrated Plasma Studies, University of Colorado
, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
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John R. Cary
John R. Cary
1
Tech-X Corporation
, 5621 Arapahoe Avenue Suite A, Boulder, Colorado 80303, USA
2
Center for Integrated Plasma Studies, University of Colorado
, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
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a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]. URL: https://nucleus.txcorp.com/∼tgjenkins
Phys. Plasmas 28, 062107 (2021)
Article history
Received:
February 08 2021
Accepted:
May 11 2021
Citation
Thomas G. Jenkins, Gregory R. Werner, John R. Cary; Dispersion and the speed-limited particle-in-cell algorithm. Phys. Plasmas 1 June 2021; 28 (6): 062107. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0046935
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