Collisional effects in plasmas modelled by a simplified Fokker-Planck equation (Q1261351)

A computer code has been developed to simulate collisional effects in plasmas for the regime where plasma instabilities are dominant but are modified by weak collisions. The numerical method developed for the code is composed of a Galerkin method embedded within a locally one- dimensional approach. This algorithm is used to solve, over the \((x,v)\) phase plane, a simplified Fokker-Planck equation with a one-dimensional Fokker-Planck operator, including a velocity dependent collision frequency. A stability analysis for the numerical scheme is given. The effects of small angle collisions on the Landau damping of plasma waves and the two-stream instability are examined.