paper

AP-Cloud: Adaptive Particle-in-Cloud Method for Optimal Solutions to Vlasov-Poisson Equation

arXiv:1603.04039 · doi:10.1016/j.jcp.2016.04.037

Abstract

We propose a new adaptive Particle-in-Cloud (AP-Cloud) method for obtaining optimal numerical solutions to the Vlasov-Poisson equation. Unlike the traditional particle-in-cell (PIC) method, which is commonly used for solving this problem, the AP-Cloud adaptively selects computational nodes or particles to deliver higher accuracy and efficiency when the particle distribution is highly non-uniform. Unlike other adaptive techniques for PIC, our method balances the errors in PDE discretization and Monte Carlo integration, and discretizes the differential operators using a generalized finite difference (GFD) method based on a weighted least square formulation. As a result, AP-Cloud is independent of the geometric shapes of computational domains and is free of artificial parameters. Efficient and robust implementation is achieved through an octree data structure with 2:1 balance. We analyze the accuracy and convergence order of AP-Cloud theoretically, and verify the method using an electrostatic problem of a particle beam with halo. Simulation results show that the AP-Cloud method is substantially more accurate and faster than the traditional PIC, and it is free of artificial forces that are typical for some adaptive PIC techniques.

34 pages, 15 Figures

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