Asymptotic Evolution of Weakly Collisional Vlasov-Poisson Plasmas

Abstract

We study the role of (weak) numerical diffusion on the long time evolution of the Vlasov-Poisson plasma. We consider the classical problem of phase space vortex formation by particle trapping. We show that the asymptotic macroscopic state is not independent of diffusion even if the dissipative length scale is much shorter than any characteristic physical length scale of the system.