Collisional Simulations Research Articles

On the influence of electrode surfaces on the plasma chemistry of a capacitive chlorine discharge

One-dimensional particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collisional simulations are performed on capacitive chlorine discharges with 2.54 cm gap rf driven by a sinusoidal with voltage amplitude of 222 V at driving frequency of 13.56 MHz. The properties of the discharge, the reaction rates for creation and loss of a few key species, the electron energy probability function, and the primary electron power absorption processes are explored as the gas pressure and the inclusion of secondary electron emission processes in the discharge model is varied. Five cases are investigated, including and neglecting electron, ion, and fast neutrals induced secondary electron emission. The negative ion Cl− is almost entirely created by dissociative attachment and lost through ion-ion recombination, and therefore the capacitive chlorine discharge is recombination dominated.

Collisional simulations of the modulator section in coherent electron cooling

The first section of any coherent electron cooling (CeC) system is the modulator, where the density of the electron beam is modulated by the copropagating ion beam. This density modulation is a result of Coulomb collisions between the individual particles of the two beams. The pairwise, stochastic part of the interactions impacts the overall performance of the CeC process. We present the first simulations of the density modulations of the electron beams from a collisional picture of the dynamics, considering the proof-of-principle CeC experiments at Brookhaven National Laboratory. These simulations were performed using PHAD, which is the first efficient, large-scale collisional numerical method in beam physics that we have previously developed and benchmarked. Realistic beam distributions and external fields have been optimized to provide strong modulation signals necessary for variations of coherent electron cooling systems. Cooling performance limits and potential collisionless simulation pitfalls are pointed out. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Cold electrons at a weakly outgassing comet

ABSTRACT Throughout the Rosetta mission, cold electrons (<1 eV) were measured in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Cometary electrons are produced at ∼10 eV through photoionization or through electron-impact ionization collisions. The cold electron population is formed by cooling the warm population through inelastic electron–neutral collisions. Assuming radial electron outflow, electrons are collisional with the neutral gas coma below the electron exobase, which only formed above the comet surface in near-perihelion high-outgassing conditions (Q > 3 × 1027 s−1). However, the cold population was identified at low outgassing (Q < 1026 s−1), when the inner coma was not expected to be collisional. We examine cooling of electrons at a weakly outgassing comet, using a 3D collisional model of electrons at a comet. Electron paths are extended by trapping in an ambipolar electric field and by gyration around magnetic field lines. This increases the probability of electrons undergoing inelastic collisions with the coma and becoming cold. We demonstrate that a cold electron population can be formed and sustained, under weak outgassing conditions (Q = 1026 s−1), once 3D electron dynamics are accounted for. Cold electrons are produced in the inner coma through electron–neutral collisions and transported tailwards by an E × B drift We quantify the efficiency of trapping in driving electron cooling, with trajectories typically 100 times longer than expected from ballistic radial outflow. Based on collisional simulations, we define an estimate for a region where a cold electron population can form, bounded by an electron cooling exobase. This estimate agrees well with cold electron measurements from the Rosetta Plasma Consortium.

Two-Dimensional Particle-in-Cell/Monte Carlo Collisional Simulation of the Post-Arc Breakdown in Vacuum Circuit Breakers

Two-Dimensional Particle-in-Cell/Monte Carlo Collisional Simulation of the Post-Arc Breakdown in Vacuum Circuit Breakers

Data-driven stochastic particle scheme for collisional plasma simulations

We present a novel framework, enabled by machine learning (ML) trainable models, for collisional plasma flow simulations governed by the Rosenbluth-Fokker-Planck (RFP) equation. The maximum entropy objective is applied to close the particle velocity distribution. The closure offers a flexible tool to reconstruct a large variety of distributions, using a few low-order statistical moments. The methodology is extended by introducing an artificial neural network (ANN) to couple the moments and the transport coefficients. In order to ensure the model's training and input data quality, we generate diverse training data sets using the high-fidelity Direct Simulation Monte-Carlo (DSMC) method. Moreover, energy constraints are integrated in the model training, thereby improving prediction accuracy. As a final step, the ANN is combined with a stochastic particle system, where the accuracy of the whole machinery for non-equilibrium thermal relaxation scenarios is evaluated. Simulation results indicate that our approach reproduces the correct relaxation behavior at lower computational cost compared to standard methods.

Collisional particle-in-cell investigations of electromagnetic pulses in hypervelocity impact plasmas

A collisional, 2D discontinuous Galerkin particle-in-cell (DG-PIC) code is developed to analyze electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) generated from hypervelocity impact plasmas. The discontinuous Galerkin scheme is used to solve the 2D transverse electric Maxwell’s equations while the particle-in-cell scheme is used to model charged species dynamics. Two models for Coulomb collisions are tested: a small-angle “particle-moment” model and a general Langevin equation model. Both collisionless and collisional simulations are able to reliably reproduce EMP generation due to charge separation within the bulk and the resulting electrostatic oscillations that occur. Both collision models cause a decrease in the frequency of the EMPs that are formed; however, this decrease is not significant enough to explain the discrepancy between experiments and simulations in previous literature. Despite this, Coulomb collisions can be significant in the physics of the plasma behind EMP generation for hypervelocity impacts, particularly in increased heating within the plasma. Overall, although Coulomb collisions are highly influential in the temperature of the plasma, they are not important in the EMP generated and its threat to spacecraft.

A dense ring of the trans-Neptunian object Quaoar outside its Roche limit.

Planetary rings are observed not only around giant planets1, but also around small bodies such as the Centaur Chariklo2 and the dwarf planet Haumea3. Up to now, all known dense rings were located close enough to their parent bodies, being inside the Roche limit, where tidal forces prevent material with reasonable densities from aggregating into a satellite. Here we report observations of an inhomogeneous ring around the trans-Neptunian body (50000) Quaoar. This trans-Neptunian object has an estimated radius4 of 555 km and possesses a roughly 80-km satellite5 (Weywot) that orbits at 24 Quaoar radii6,7. The detected ring orbits at 7.4 radii from the central body, which is well outside Quaoar's classical Roche limit, thus indicating that this limit does not always determine where ring material can survive. Our local collisional simulations show that elastic collisions, based on laboratory experiments8, can maintain a ring far away from the body. Moreover, Quaoar's ring orbits close to the 1/3 spin-orbit resonance9 with Quaoar, a property shared by Chariklo's2,10,11 and Haumea's3 rings, suggesting that this resonance plays a key role in ring confinement for small bodies.

Benchmarking calculations of wavelengths and transition rates with spectroscopic accuracy for W xlviii through W lvi tungsten ions

Atomic properties of $n=3$ levels for ${\mathrm{W}}^{47+}\ensuremath{-}{\mathrm{W}}^{55+}$ ions ($Z=74$) are systematically calculated using two different and independent methods, namely, the second-order many-body perturbation theory and the multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock method combined with the relativistic configuration interaction approach. Wavelengths and transition rates for electric- and magnetic-dipole transitions involving the $n=3$ levels of ${\mathrm{W}}^{47+}\ensuremath{-}{\mathrm{W}}^{55+}$ are calculated. In addition, we discuss in detail the importance of the valence and core-valence electron correlations, the Breit interaction, the higher-order frequency-dependent retardation correction, and the leading quantum electrodynamical corrections for transition wavelengths. Spectroscopic accuracy is achieved for the present calculated wavelengths, and most of them agree with experimental values within $0.05%$. Our calculated wavelengths, combined with collisional radiative model simulations, are used to identify the yet unidentified 25 observed lines in the extremely complex spectrum between $27\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\AA{}$ and $34\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\AA{}$ measured by Lennartsson $et\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}al.$ [Phys. Rev. A 87, 062505 (2013)]. We provide additional data for 472 strong electric-dipole transitions in the wavelength range of 17--50 \AA{}, and 185 strong magnetic-dipole transitions between $36\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\AA{}$ and $4384\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\AA{}$, with a line intensity greater than $1\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{photon}/\mathrm{s}$. These can provide benchmark data for future experiments and theoretical calculations.

Surface effects in a capacitive argon discharge in the intermediate pressure regime

One-dimensional particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collisional simulations are performed on a capacitive 2.54 cm gap, 1.6 Torr argon discharge driven by a sinusoidal rf current density amplitude of 50 A m−2 at 13.56 MHz. The excited argon states (metastable levels, resonance levels, and the 4p manifold) are modeled self-consistently with the particle dynamics as space- and time-varying fluids. Four cases are examined, including and neglecting excited states, and using either a fixed or energy-dependent secondary electron emission yield due to ion and/or neutral impact on the electrodes. The results for all cases show that most of the ionization occurs near the plasma-sheath interfaces, with little ionization within the plasma bulk region. Without excited states, secondary electrons emitted from the electrodes are found to play a strong role in the ionization process. When the excited states, and secondary electron emission due to neutral and ion impact on the electrodes are included in the discharge model, the discharge operation transitions from α-mode to γ-mode, in which nearly all the ionization is due to secondary electrons. Secondary electron production due to the bombardment of excited argon atoms was approximately14.7 times greater than that due to ion bombardment. Electron impact of ground state argon atoms by secondary electrons contributes about 76% of the total ionization; primary electrons, about 11%; metastable Penning ionization, about 13%; and multi-step ionization, about 0.3%.

Sensitivity of precipitation formation to secondary ice production in winter orographic mixed-phase clouds

Abstract. The discrepancy between the observed concentration of ice nucleating particles (INPs) and the ice crystal number concentration (ICNC) remains unresolved and limits our understanding of ice formation and, hence, precipitation amount, location and intensity. Enhanced ice formation through secondary ice production (SIP) could account for this discrepancy. Here, in a region over the eastern Swiss Alps, we perform sensitivity studies of additional simulated SIP processes on precipitation formation and surface precipitation intensity. The SIP processes considered include rime splintering, droplet shattering during freezing and breakup through ice–graupel collisions. We simulated the passage of a cold front at Gotschnagrat, a peak at 2281 m a.s.l. (above sea level), on 7 March 2019 with the Consortium for Small-scale Modeling (COSMO), at a 1 km horizontal grid spacing, as part of the RACLETS (Role of Aerosols and CLouds Enhanced by Topography and Snow) field campaign in the Davos region in Switzerland. The largest simulated difference in the ICNC at the surface originated from the breakup simulations. Indeed, breakup caused a 1 to 3 orders of magnitude increase in the ICNC compared to SIP from rime splintering or without SIP processes in the control simulation. The ICNCs from the collisional breakup simulations at Gotschnagrat were in best agreement with the ICNCs measured on a gondola near the surface. However, these simulations were not able to reproduce the ice crystal habits near the surface. Enhanced ICNCs from collisional breakup reduced localized regions of higher precipitation and, thereby, improved the model performance in terms of surface precipitation over the domain.

Zonal profile corrugations and staircase formation: Role of the transport crossphase

Recently, quasi-stationary structures called E × B staircases were observed in gyrokinetic simulations, in all transport channels [Dif-Pradalier et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 085004 (2015)]. We present a novel analytical theory—supported by collisional drift-wave fluid simulations—for the generation of density profile corrugations (staircase), independent of the action of zonal flows: turbulent fluctuations self-organize to generate quasi-stationary radial modulations Δθk(r,t) of the transport crossphase θk between density and electric potential fluctuations. The radial modulations of the associated particle flux drive zonal corrugations of the density profile via a modulational instability. In turn, zonal density corrugations regulate the turbulence via nonlinear damping of the fluctuations.

Computer simulation of collision induced dissociation and isolobal analogy: The case of biotin and its analogs

We have studied how collision induced dissociation (CID) products and associated mechanisms change when a chemical group is modified by isolobal substitution, and in particular the sequence S, O, NH and CH2. At this end, we have considered protonated biotin (vitamin B7) and corresponding oxybiotin, N-biotin and C-biotin, which have the same structures except for one chemical group (the S in biotin which is substituted with the aforementioned isolobal ones). Collisional simulations with Ar were performed to model CID fragmentations and to have direct access to related mechanisms. Simulations show that the CID fragmentation of the four compounds are similar and the resulting fragments involve in a similar way the isolobal groups. Details on the mechanisms obtained from simulations are reported and discussed. This result shows that it is possible to predict, in principle and with a reasonable confidence, mass spectra of unknown molecules based on mass spectrum of a known one when isolobal modifications are done.

Multi-species collisions for delta-f gyrokinetic simulations: Implementation and verification with GENE

A multi-species linearized collision operator based on the model developed by Sugama et al. has been implemented in the nonlinear gyrokinetic code, GENE. Such a model conserves particles, momentum, and energy to machine precision, and is shown to have negative definite free energy dissipation characteristics, satisfying Boltzmann’s H-theorem, including for realistic mass ratio. Finite Larmor Radius (FLR) effects have also been implemented into the local version of the code. For the global version of the code, the collision operator has been developed to allow for block-structured velocity space grids, allowing for computationally tractable collisional global simulations. The validity of the collision operator has been demonstrated by relaxation and conservation tests, as well as appropriate benchmarks. The newly implemented operator shall be used in future simulations to study magnetically confined fusion plasma turbulence and transport in more extreme regions with higher collisionality.

Fast collisional electron heating and relaxation in thin foils driven by a circularly polarized ultraintense short-pulse laser

The creation of well-thermalized, hot and dense plasmas is attractive for warm dense matter studies. We investigate collisionally induced energy absorption of an ultraintense and ultrashort laser pulse in a solid copper target using particle-in-cell simulations. We find that, upon irradiation by a$2\times 10^{20}~\text{W}\,\text{cm}^{-2}$intensity, 60 fs duration, circularly polarized laser pulse, the electrons in the collisional simulation rapidly reach a well-thermalized distribution with${\sim}3.5~\text{keV}$temperature, while in the collisionless simulation the absorption is several orders of magnitude weaker. Circular polarization inhibits the generation of suprathermal electrons, while ensuring efficient bulk heating through inverse bremsstrahlung, a mechanism usually overlooked at relativistic laser intensity. An additional simulation, taking account of both collisional and field ionization, yields similar results: the bulk electrons are heated to${\sim}2.5~\text{keV}$, but with a somewhat lower degree of thermalization than in the pre-set, fixed-ionization case. The collisional absorption mechanism is found to be robust against variations in the laser parameters. At fixed laser pulse energy, increasing the pulse duration rather than the intensity leads to a higher electron temperature.

Complexity-reduction using automatic level grouping for atomic collisional-radiative models

In a previous work that investigated atomic collisional-radiative models, Boltzmann grouping was implemented to reduce and accelerate detailed-configuration-accounting or DCA-based CR simulations, exhibiting distinct advantages over other CR reduction techniques. However, the selection of level groups under this reduction technique was manually performed and required several iterations to construct the appropriate groups that properly showed the advantages associated with Boltzmann grouping. Therefore, a clustering technique was implemented to automatically group detailed (LS-coupled) atomic states with limited user interference. Clustering in conjunction with the Boltzmann grouping technique were applied to collisional and coronal simulations in this work to demonstrate the feasibility of automatic level grouping techniques to produce accurate reduced simulations under various plasma conditions.

High performance collisional PIC plasma simulation with modern GPUs

GPU implementation of the collisional Particle-In-Cell plasma model is proposed. The goal of this model is the simulation of Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) reactors with glow discharge plasma and also for simulation of fusion plasma with sufficient role of collisions. Vlasov equation is being solved by the Particle-In-Cell (PIC) method. Collision are simulated with the null collision technique. The important difference from the collisionless approach is that major time is taken by collision evaluation and not by particle push.GPU performance is increased by storing the particles in cells and also by the exclusion of synchronization of threads at the stage of current and density evaluation. Electromagnetic field is given by either the Maxwell equations or be the Poisson equation for electrostatic case. The Maxwell equations are solved by the FDTD method. The Poisson equation is solved by the hybrid method. Performance obtained at the moment is 0.5 TFLOPS for particle push with the Nvidia Tesla V100, and the parallels efficiency is 92% for a cluster with 250 nodes with 2 GPUs each resulting in 500 GPUs.

2D particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collisional simulation of the plasma initiation in the vacuum breakdown stage

In this paper, the plasma formation in the vacuum breakdown stage is simulated with a 2D particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collisional model. In this model, the field is solved in a 2D cylindrical coordinate system and particles including electrons, atoms, singly, doubly, triply and fourfold charged ions are traced as super particles, each of which represents many real particles. The plasma quickly builds up from the field emission and evaporation near the field emitter with a local field of about 10 GV m−1. The plasma expands in a hemispherical shape with a high-density gradient in the vicinity of the field emitter. During the discharge, a typical structure including an ion sheath, a quasi-neutral region and an acceleration layer is obtained. The well-pronounced potential hump near the cathode, the high ion velocity in the acceleration layer and ion charge state agree well with results in previous research works. Investigation of the effects of the field enhancement factor and emitter surface temperature shows that more highly charged ions can be obtained in simulations with higher field emission current, while the plasma initiates faster and has higher density with stronger evaporation of neutral atoms.

Toward understanding the origin of asteroid geometries

More than a half of the asteroids in the main belt have irregular shapes with ratios of the minor to major axis lengths of less than 0.6. One of the mechanisms that create such shapes is collisions between asteroids. The relationship between the shapes of collisional outcomes and impact conditions such as impact velocities may provide information on the collisional environments and its evolutionary stages when those asteroids are created. In this study, we perform numerical simulations of collisional destruction of asteroids with radii 50 km and subsequent gravitational reaccumulation using smoothed-particle hydrodynamics for elastic dynamics with self-gravity, a model of rock fractures, and a model of friction in completely damaged rock. We systematically vary the impact velocity from 50 to 400 m s−1 and the impact angle from 5° to 45°. We investigate shapes of the largest remnants resulting from collisional simulations. As a result, various shapes (bilobed, spherical, flat, elongated, and hemispherical shapes) are formed through equal-mass and low-velocity (50−400 m s−1) impacts. We clarify a range of the impact angle and velocity to form each shape. Our results indicate that irregular shapes, especially flat shapes, of asteroids with diameters larger than 80 km are likely to be formed through similar-mass and low-velocity impacts, which are likely to occur in the primordial environment prior to the formation of Jupiter.

Particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collisional simulation of negative streamer formation and branching between planar electrodes

In this paper, the mechanism of negative streamer formation and branching between planar electrodes is studied using a two dimensional particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collisional model. Super-particles, each one of which represents many physical particles, are used in our model to reduce the calculation and memory usage. The electric field applied to the gap between electrodes is constant and is above the breakdown value already before the streamer formation. For nitrogen at standard temperature and pressure, the simulation is first performed in the background field of 10 MV/m. The results show that prior to branching, the streamer head is flattened, and the non-uniform distribution of electrons accelerated to energies above 50 eV is obtained at the flat streamer head, which then leads to streamer branching. Then, additional simulations in the background fields of 9 MV/m, 11 MV/m, and 12 MV/m are performed to investigate the effects of background field. The results show that the streamer propagates faster, has larger plasma density, and branches more rapidly in a stronger field. The simulation results of argon are also given at a standard temperature and pressure in the background field of 10 MV/m. The results show that more branches can be obtained in argon compared with nitrogen, which agrees well with the experimental results.

The scattered disc of HR 8799

HR~8799 is a young F0-type star with four directly imaged giant planets and two debris belts, one located exterior and another one interior to the region occupied by the planetary orbits. Having an architecture similar to that of our Solar System, but also revealing dissimilarities such as high masses of planets, a huge radial extent and a high mass of the outer debris belt, HR~8799 is considered to be a benchmark to test formation and evolution models of planetary systems. Here we focus on the outer debris ring and its relation to the planets. We demonstrate that the models of the outer disc, proposed previously to reproduce Herschel observations, are inconsistent with the ALMA data, and vice versa. In an attempt to find a physically motivated model that would agree with both observational sets, we perform collisional simulations. We show that a narrow planetesimal belt and a radiation pressure induced dust halo cannot account for the observed radial brightness profiles. A single, wide planetesimal disc does not reproduce the data either. Instead, we propose a two-population model, comprising a Kuiper-Belt-like structure of a low-eccentricity planetesimal population ("the classical Kuiper Belt") and a high-eccentricity population of comets ("scattered disc"). We argue that such a structure of the exo-Kuiper belt of HR~8799 could be explained with planet migration scenarios analogous to those proposed for the Kuiper Belt of the Solar System.