An asymptotic-preserving and energy-conserving particle-in-cell method for Vlasov–Maxwell equations

Abstract

In this paper, we develop an asymptotic-preserving and energy-conserving (APEC) Particle-In-Cell (PIC) algorithm for the Vlasov–Maxwell system. This algorithm not only guarantees that the asymptotic limiting of the discrete scheme is a consistent and stable discretization of the quasi-neutral limit of the continuous model but also preserves Gauss’s law and energy conservation at the same time; therefore, it is promising to provide stable simulations of complex plasma systems even in the quasi-neutral regime. The key ingredients for achieving these properties include the generalization of Ohm’s law for electric fields such that asymptotic-preserving discretization can be achieved and a proper decomposition of the effects of the electromagnetic fields such that a Lagrange multiplier method can be appropriately employed for correcting the kinetic energy. We investigate the performance of the APEC method with three benchmark tests in one dimension, including the linear Landau damping, the bump-on-tail problem, and the two-stream instability. Detailed comparisons are conducted by including the results from the classical explicit leapfrog and the previously developed asymptotic-preserving PIC schemes. Our numerical experiments show that the proposed APEC scheme can give accurate and stable simulations of both kinetic and quasi-neutral regimes, demonstrating the attractive properties of the method across scales.