An orbit-averaged Darwin quasi-neutral hybrid code (Q1088541)

We have developed an orbit-averaged Darwin quasi-neutral hybrid code to study the in situ acceleration of cosmic ray by supernova-remnant shock waves. The orbit-averaged algorithm is well suited to following the slow growth of Alfvén waves driven by resonances with apidly gyrating cosmic rays. We present a complete description of our algorithm, along with stability and noise analyses. The code is numerically unstable, but a single e-folding may require as many as \(10^ 5\) time-steps! It can therefore be used to study instabilities for which \(\Gamma_{physical}>\Gamma_{numerical}\), provided that \(\Gamma_{numerical}\tau^{final}<O(1)\). We also analyze a physical instability which provides a successful test of our algorithm.