Implicit and conservative difference scheme for the Fokker-Planck equation (Q1331453)

An implicit and fully conservative finite-difference scheme is proposed for solving the Fokker-Planck equation for Coulomb collisions between isotropically distributed like particles in a spatially homogeneous plasma. The scheme extends the standard Chang-Cooper method [\textit{J. S. Chang} and \textit{G. Cooper}, J. Comput. Phys. 6, 1-16 (1970; Zbl 0221.65153)] by providing not only number density conservation, but also energy conservation. As a result, time steps much larger than the thermal collision time can be used to stably and accurately simulate plasmas far from thermal equilibrium.