Stability and conservation properties of Hermite-based approximations of the Vlasov-Poisson system (Q2049075)

The paper analyzes the spectral method for the numerical solution of the Vlasov-Poisson system, which describes the distribution of collisionless plasma in the electrostatic limit. The method uses Hermite functions, defined as Hermite polynomials multiplied by the Gaussian function. The authors distinguish two types of Hermite functions. In dependence on the concrete Gaussian function, the functions are either symmetrically or asymmetrically weighted. This results in two definitions of stabilizing Lenard-Bernstein diffusive operators, which are both proved to be dissipative and preserve the first modes of spectral expansion. The stability is first studied for the simplified one-dimensional model, where the absolute stability in weighted norms is proven for both symmetric and antisymmetric basis functions, and it is shown that the main conservation properties are maintained. Then, the results are partly extended to the complete nonlinear Vlassov-Poisson system.