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Title: Elimination of numerical Cherenkov instability in flowing-plasma particle-in-cell simulations by using Galilean coordinates

Abstract

Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of relativistic flowing plasmas are of key interest to several fields of physics (including, e.g., laser-wakefield acceleration, when viewed in a Lorentz-boosted frame) but remain sometimes infeasible due to the well-known numerical Cherenkov instability (NCI). In this article, we show that, for a plasma drifting at a uniform relativistic velocity, the NCI can be eliminated by simply integrating the PIC equations in Galilean coordinates that follow the plasma (also sometimes known as comoving coordinates) within a spectral analytical framework. The elimination of the NCI is verified empirically and confirmed by a theoretical analysis of the instability. Moreover, it is shown that this method is applicable both to Cartesian geometry and to cylindrical geometry with azimuthal Fourier decomposition.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Hamburg, Hamburg (Germany)
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
OSTI Identifier:
1398439
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1332030
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review E
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 94; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 2470-0045
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Citation Formats

Lehe, Remi, Kirchen, Manuel, Godfrey, Brendan B., Maier, Andreas R., and Vay, Jean -Luc. Elimination of numerical Cherenkov instability in flowing-plasma particle-in-cell simulations by using Galilean coordinates. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.94.053305.
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Lehe, Remi, Kirchen, Manuel, Godfrey, Brendan B., Maier, Andreas R., & Vay, Jean -Luc. Elimination of numerical Cherenkov instability in flowing-plasma particle-in-cell simulations by using Galilean coordinates. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.94.053305
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Lehe, Remi, Kirchen, Manuel, Godfrey, Brendan B., Maier, Andreas R., and Vay, Jean -Luc. Mon . "Elimination of numerical Cherenkov instability in flowing-plasma particle-in-cell simulations by using Galilean coordinates". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.94.053305. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1398439.
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@article{osti_1398439,
title = {Elimination of numerical Cherenkov instability in flowing-plasma particle-in-cell simulations by using Galilean coordinates},
author = {Lehe, Remi and Kirchen, Manuel and Godfrey, Brendan B. and Maier, Andreas R. and Vay, Jean -Luc},
abstractNote = {Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of relativistic flowing plasmas are of key interest to several fields of physics (including, e.g., laser-wakefield acceleration, when viewed in a Lorentz-boosted frame) but remain sometimes infeasible due to the well-known numerical Cherenkov instability (NCI). In this article, we show that, for a plasma drifting at a uniform relativistic velocity, the NCI can be eliminated by simply integrating the PIC equations in Galilean coordinates that follow the plasma (also sometimes known as comoving coordinates) within a spectral analytical framework. The elimination of the NCI is verified empirically and confirmed by a theoretical analysis of the instability. Moreover, it is shown that this method is applicable both to Cartesian geometry and to cylindrical geometry with azimuthal Fourier decomposition.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevE.94.053305},
journal = {Physical Review E},
number = 5,
volume = 94,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Nov 14 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Mon Nov 14 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.94.053305
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Accurate modeling of plasma acceleration with arbitrary order pseudo-spectral particle-in-cell methods
    journal, March 2017

    • Jalas, S.; Dornmair, I.; Lehe, R.
    • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 24, Issue 3
    • DOI: 10.1063/1.4978569

    Efficient start-to-end 3D envelope modeling for two-stage laser wakefield acceleration experiments
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    • Massimo, F.; Beck, A.; Derouillat, J.
    • Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 61, Issue 12
    • DOI: 10.1088/1361-6587/ab49cf

    Numerical studies on electron beam quality optimization in a laser-driven plasma accelerator with external injection at SINBAD for ATHENA e
    journal, November 2019

    Numerical Studies on Electron Beam Quality Optimization in a Laser-Driven Plasma Accelerator with External Injection at SINBAD for ATHENA
    text, January 2019

    • Svystun, Elena; Assmann, R. W.; Dorda, U.
    • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
    • DOI: 10.3204/pubdb-2019-05631
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