PPPL-4748

Geometric Integration Of The Valsov-Maxwell System With A Variational Particle-in-cell Scheme

Authors: J. Squire, H. Qin and W.M. Tang

Abstract:
A fully variational, unstructured, electromagnetic particle-in-cell integrator is developed for integration of the Vlasov-Maxwell equations. Using the formalism of Discrete Exterior Calculus [1], the field solver, interpolation scheme and particle advance algorithm are derived through minimization of a single discrete field theory action. As a consequence of ensuring that the action is invariant under discrete electromagnetic gauge transformations, the integrator exactly conserves Gauss's law.
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Submitted to: Physical Review Letters (March 2012)

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Download PPPL-4748 (pdf 275 KB 10 pp)
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