A new method to dispatch split particles in particle-in-cell codes

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Publication:6158845

DOI10.1016/J.CPC.2020.107666arXiv2104.10675OpenAlexW3095436567MaRDI QIDQ6158845FDOQ6158845


Authors: Roch Smets, Nicolas Aunai, Andrea Ciardi, Matthieu Drouin, Martin Campos Pinto, Philip Deegan Edit this on Wikidata


Publication date: 31 May 2023

Published in: Computer Physics Communications (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Particle-In-Cell codes are widely used for plasma physics simulations. It is often the case that particles within a computational cell need to be split to improve the statistics or, in the case of non-uniform meshes, to avoid the development of fictitious self-forces. Existing particle splitting methods are largely empirical and their accuracy in preserving the distribution function has not been evaluated in a quantitative way. Here we present a new method specifically designed for codes using adaptive mesh refinement. Although we point out that an exact, distribution function preserving method does exist, it requires a large number of split particles and its practical use is limited. We derive instead a method that minimizes the cost function representing the distance between the assignment function of the original particle and that of the sum of split particles. Depending on the interpolation degree and the dimension of the problem, we provide tabulated results for the weight and position of the split particles. This strategy represents no overhead in computing time and for a large enough number of split-particles it asymptotically tends to the exact solution.


Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.10675




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