Particle-in-cell method for parallel dynamics in magnetized electron plasmas: Study of high-amplitude BGK modes

The present paper describes the numerical technique that has been developed, in the framework of the particle-in-cell (PIC) method, to study the dynamics of a nonneutral plasma along the magnetic field lines. In particular, the technique has been employed to simulate the formation and long-term evol...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of computational physics 2006-10, Vol.218 (1), p.102-122
Main Authors: Peinetti, F., Peano, F., Coppa, G., Wurtele, J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
BERNSTEIN MODE
BGK modes
CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS
Computation
Computational techniques
Dynamic tests
Dynamics
Electron plasma
ELECTRONS
Ergodic processes
EVOLUTION
Exact sciences and technology
MAGNETIC FIELDS
Mathematical methods in physics
Mathematical models
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
Nonneutral plasmas
ONE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
P CODES
Particle in cell technique
Particle-in-cell techniques
Physics
PLASMA
Plasma physics
PLASMA WAVES
Reduction
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
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Summary:The present paper describes the numerical technique that has been developed, in the framework of the particle-in-cell (PIC) method, to study the dynamics of a nonneutral plasma along the magnetic field lines. In particular, the technique has been employed to simulate the formation and long-term evolution of large-amplitude electrostatic waves experimentally observed in electron plasmas confined in a Penning trap [W. Bertsche, J. Fajans, L. Friedland, Phys. Rev. Lett. 91 (2003) 265003]. Due to the peculiar features of the physical system, namely the existence of different time scales and the presence of a perturbative oscillating potential, ad hoc numerical techniques have been developed. In particular, with a suitable radial decomposition all important two-dimensional phenomena are fully taken into account while keeping the computational effort to that of a standard one-dimensional PIC codes. Moreover, a novel particle loading technique (ergodic loading) has been developed, which ensures a significant reduction of numerical noise. The results obtained with the present technique are in excellent agreement with the experiments [F. Peinetti, W. Bertsche, J. Fajans, J. Wurtele, L. Friedland, Phys. Plasmas 12 (2005) 062112]. Moreover, results presented here furnish clear evidences of the close relationship between the observed nonlinear structures and the Bernstein–Greene–Kruskal modes.
ISSN:0021-9991
1090-2716
DOI:10.1016/j.jcp.2006.01.040