Plasma self-heating and saturation due to numerical instabilities
The cold-beam nonphysical instability due to the aliases produced by the numerical spatial grid is presented in detail for momentum-conserving linear weighting codes. Additions to previous work include: linear analysis dispersion diagrams showing large growth rates, ..omega../sub i/< or =0.2 ..omega../sub p/; methods for reducing ..omega../sub i/, effectively broadening the finite-size particle width; simulation results verifying the linear theory, plus plots showing the p=1 alias in phase space (..nu../sub x/, x); the growth of beam, thermal spread (..nu../sub t//sup 2/ in temperature) an loss of energy conservation; end-of-growth (saturation at small thermal spread (lambda/sub D//..delta..x=upsilon/sub t//..omega../sub p/..delta..xapprox. =0.046, for lambda/sub B//..delta..xequivalent upsilon/sub 0//..omega../sub p/..delta..x> or =0.3, i.e., upsilon/sub t/< or =0.14upsilon/sub 0/), with return to near energy conservation (stability); demonstration of no growth for a warm beam, with upsilon/sub t/(initial)> or =upsilon/sub t/(saturation); and the mechanism of stabilization (trapping). A thermal (Maxwellian) plasma, also nonphysically unstable at small lambda/sub D//..delta..x, is also found to approach stabilization by self-heating. The two-stream physical instability is affected by the grid, with the aliasing instability also present; the linear theory for this is presented, with guidelines for minimizing the effects of the grid.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, University of California, Livermore, California 94550
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48; EY-76-S-03-0034-PA128
- OSTI ID:
- 5254873
- Journal Information:
- J. Comput. Phys.; (United States), Vol. 36:1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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