Asymptotic-Preserving Particle-In-Cell method for the Vlasov-Poisson system near quasineutrality

This paper deals with the numerical resolution of the Vlasov-Poisson system in a nearly quasineutral regime by Particle-In-Cell (PIC) methods. In this regime, Classical PIC methods are subject to stability constraints on the time and space steps related to the small Debye length and large plasma frequency. Here, we propose an "Asymptotic-Preserving" PIC scheme which is not subjected to these limitations. Additionally, when the plasma period and Debye length are small compared to the time and space steps, this method provides a consistent PIC discretization of the quasineutral Vlasov equation. We perform several one-dimensional numerical experiments which provide a solid validation of the method and its underlying concepts, and compare the method with Classical PIC and Direct-Implicit methods. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.