Numerical simulation of collision-free plasma using Vlasov hybrid simulation

Abstract

Summary form only given. A novel scheme for the numerical simulation of wave-particle interactions in space plasmas has been developed. The method, termed Vlasov hybrid simulation (VHS), is applicable to hot collision-free plasmas in which the unperturbed distribution function is smooth and free of delta function singularities. The particle population is described as a continuous Vlasov fluid in phase space-granularity, with collisional effects being ignored. In traditional PIC/CIC codes the charge/current due to each simulation particle is assigned to a fixed spatial grid. In the VHS method the simulation particles sample the Vlasov fluid and provide information about the value of the distribution function F ( r , x ) at random points in phase space. The VHS technique is also more efficient than previous Vlasov codes which performed a discretization of the Vlasov equation. The VHS technique has been applied to the problem of nonlinear wave-particle interactions in the VLF band and used to simulate rising frequency emissions triggered by Siple pulses. The code produces stable reproducible emissions whose characteristics agree with experimental observations