Numerical solution of the electron transport equation in the upper atmosphere

Journal Article · Tue Oct 02 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Journal of Computational Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2018.09.028· OSTI ID:1478331

Woods, Mark Christopher ^[1]; Sailor, William C. ^[1]; Holmes, Mark ^[2]

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1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
2. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States). Dept. of Mathematical Sciences

A new approach for solving the electron transport equation in the upper atmosphere is derived. The problem is a very stiff boundary value problem, and to obtain an accurate numerical solution, matrix factorizations are used to decouple the fast and slow modes. A stable finite difference method is applied to each mode. This solver is applied to a simplified problem for which an exact solution exists using various versions of the boundary conditions that might arise in a natural auroral display. The numerical and exact solutions are found to agree with each other, verifying the method.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1478331
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1702376
• Report Number(s): SAND-2017-8093J; 655787
• Journal Information: Journal of Computational Physics, Vol. 376, Issue C; ISSN 0021-9991
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
Integro-differential equation
Stiff boundary value problem
Upwind difference method
Electron transport
Upper atmosphere