Efficient Fourier basis particle simulation

The standard particle-in-cell algorithm suffers from grid heating. There exists a gridless alternative which bypasses the deposition step and calculates each Fourier mode of the charge density directly from the particle positions. We show that a gridless method can be computed efficiently through th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of computational physics Vol. 396; no. C
Main Authors Mitchell, Matthew S., Miecnikowski, Matthew T., Beylkin, Gregory, Parker, Scott E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Elsevier 01.11.2019
Subjects
Computer Science
Energy conserving
Fourier transform
Momentum conserving
Numerical
Particle-in-cell
Physics
PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
Plasma
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Summary:The standard particle-in-cell algorithm suffers from grid heating. There exists a gridless alternative which bypasses the deposition step and calculates each Fourier mode of the charge density directly from the particle positions. We show that a gridless method can be computed efficiently through the use of an Unequally Spaced Fast Fourier Transform (USFFT) algorithm. After a spectral field solve, the forces on the particles are calculated via the inverse USFFT (a rapid solution of an approximate linear system). We provide one and two dimensional implementations of this algorithm with an asymptotic runtime of O ( N p + N m D log ⁡ N m D ) for each iteration, identical to the standard PIC algorithm (where Np is the number of particles, Nm is the number of Fourier modes, and D is the spatial dimensionality of the problem). We demonstrate superior energy conservation and reduced noise, as well as convergence of the energy conservation at small time steps.
Bibliography:USDOE Office of Science (SC)
FG02-08ER54954; SC0008801
ISSN:0021-9991
1090-2716