Linearized Coulomb Collision Operator for Simulation of Interpenetrating Plasma Streams

• Published in: IEEE transactions on plasma science Vol. 47; no. 5; pp. 2074 - 2080
• Main Authors: Dimits, A. M., Joseph, I., Banks, J. W., Berger, R. L., Brunner, S., Chapman, T., Copeland, D., Ghosh, D., Arrighi, W. J., Hittinger, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.05.2019; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; Coulomb collisions; Distribution functions; Entropy; Indexes; Kinetic theory; Linearization; Mathematical model; Plasma simulation; Plasma temperature; plasma transport processes; Program verification (computers); Realizability; Streams
• ISSN: 0093-3813; 1939-9375
• DOI: 10.1109/TPS.2019.2897790

We present an extension of a linearized Coulomb collision operator, previously used in several Eulerian kinetic codes for like-species collisions and unlike-species collisions in the case where the backgrounds about which the linearization is made all are in collisional equilibrium, to the situation of interpenetrating plasma streams. In the latter case, the backgrounds cannot be taken to be in equilibrium and a significant generalization is required. Our development is targeted toward the Eulerian kinetic plasma code LOKI, which evolves the Vlasov-Poisson or Vlasov-Maxwell system in a Cartesian "2 + 2-dimensional" phase space. The extended operator has been implemented in a test code, and results of both quantitative verification and qualitative "realizability" tests are presented.