COLLISIONLESS PLASMA PRESHEATH IN A NONUNIFORM MAGNETIC-FIELD

The flow of a collisionless plasma in a nonuniform magnetic field is numerically simulated for a wide range of magnetic field strengths. An iterative scheme for solution of the Vlasov equation and quasineutrality is developed in which a Monte Carlo description for the ion dynamics is used. Ions are launched from distributed sources with finite temperature while electrons are assumed to obey the Boltzmann relation. The dependence of the electrostatic potential profile on both the spatial distribution of the particle source and the magnetic field strength profiles is explicitly investigated. The simulation results are compared with a recently published analytical solution [Phys. Fluids B 1, 725 (1989)]. © 1989 American Institute of Physics.