A Multi Level Multi Domain Method for Particle In Cell plasma simulations

A novel adaptive technique for electromagnetic Particle In Cell (PIC) plasma simulations is presented here. Two main issues are identified as regards the development of the algorithm. First, the choice of the size of the particle shape function in progressively refined grids, with the decision to avoid both time-dependent shape functions and cumbersome particle-to-grid interpolation techniques, and, second, the necessity to comply with the strict stability constraints of the explicit PIC algorithm. The adaptive implementation presented responds to these demands with the introduction of a Multi Level Multi Domain (MLMD) system, where a cloud of self-similar domains is fully simulated with both fields and particles, and the use of an Implicit Moment PIC method as baseline algorithm for the adaptive evolution. Information is exchanged between the levels with the projection of the field information from the refined to the coarser levels and the interpolation of the boundary conditions for the refined levels from the coarser level fields. Particles are bound to their level of origin and are prevented from transitioning to coarser levels, but are repopulated at the refined grid boundaries with a splitting technique. The presented algorithm is tested against a series of simulation challenges. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.