Strategies for particle resampling in PIC simulations

In particle-in-cell simulations, excessive or even unfeasible computational demands can be caused by the growth of the number of particles in the course of prolific ionization or cascaded pair production due to the effects of quantum electrodynamics. Here we discuss how one can organize a dynamic re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Computer physics communications 2021-05, Vol.262, p.107826, Article 107826
Main Authors: Muraviev, A., Bashinov, A., Efimenko, E., Volokitin, V., Meyerov, I., Gonoskov, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Annan fysik
Fusion, Plasma and Space Physics
Fusion, plasma och rymdfysik
Merging
Other Physics Topics
Particle-in-cell
QED cascades
Resampling
Thinning
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Summary:In particle-in-cell simulations, excessive or even unfeasible computational demands can be caused by the growth of the number of particles in the course of prolific ionization or cascaded pair production due to the effects of quantum electrodynamics. Here we discuss how one can organize a dynamic rearrangement of the ensemble to reduce the number of macroparticles, while maintaining acceptable sampling of an arbitrary particle distribution. The approaches of merging and thinning as well as their variants are discussed and the aspects of use are considered. •Possibilities for down-sampling of particle ensembles in PIC simulations are analyzed.•Methods for non-destructive thinning with weight redistribution are developed.•Thinning and merging methods systematically compared using test and real problems.•Thinning can outperform merging when problem-specific tailoring is intricate.
ISSN:0010-4655
1879-2944
DOI:10.1016/j.cpc.2021.107826