A conservative high order semi-Lagrangian WENO method for the Vlasov equation

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In this paper, we propose a novel Vlasov solver based on a semi-Lagrangian method which combines Strang splitting in time with high order WENO (weighted essentially non-oscillatory) reconstruction in space. A key insight in this work is that the spatial interpolation matrices, used in the reconstruction process of a semi-Lagrangian approach to linear hyperbolic equations, can be factored into right and left flux matrices. It is the factoring of the interpolation matrices which makes it possible to apply the WENO methodology in the reconstruction used in the semi-Lagrangian update. The spatial WENO reconstruction developed for this method is conservative and updates point values of the solution. While the third, fifth, seventh and ninth order reconstructions are presented in this paper, the scheme can be extended to arbitrarily high order. WENO reconstruction is able to achieve high order accuracy in smooth parts of the solution while being able to capture sharp interfaces without introducing oscillations. Moreover, the CFL time step restriction of a regular finite difference or finite volume WENO scheme is removed in a semi-Lagrangian framework, allowing for a cheaper and more flexible numerical realization. The quality of the proposed method is demonstrated by applying the approach to basic test problems, such as linear advection and rigid body rotation, and to classical plasma problems, such as Landau damping and the two-stream instability. Even though the method is only second order accurate in time, our numerical results suggest the use of high order reconstruction is advantageous when considering the Vlasov–Poisson system.