二维粒子模拟方法及在空间物理中应用

在粒子模拟的PIC(particle in cell)模式中,与场有关的物理量如电磁场等分配在固定的网格点上,而粒子则可在计算区域的任意位置上.设计了一个二维三分量的粒子模拟程序,并用它计算了空间物理中两种常见的物理现象:束流不稳定性和磁场重联.在束流不稳定性问题中,一束速度为V_b=10V_A(V_A为Alfvén速度)的等离子体在背景等离子中运动,通过波粒相互作用可激发沿磁场方向传播的Alfvén波.在磁场重联问题中,具有Harris形态的电流片可自发地引起磁场重联,并且B_y分量的磁场具有四极形分布.     

Multi-scale plasma simulation by the interlocking of magnetohydrodynamic model and particle-in-cell kinetic model

Many kinds of simulation models have been developed to understand the complex plasma systems. However, these simulation models have been separately performed because the fundamental assumption of each model is different and restricts the physical processes in each spatial and temporal scales. On the other hand, it is well known that the interactions among the multiple scales may play crucial roles in the plasma phenomena (e.g. magnetic reconnection, collisionless shock), where the kinetic processes in the micro-scale may interact with the global structure in the fluid dynamics. To take self-consistently into account such multi-scale phenomena, we have developed a new simulation model by directly interlocking the fluid simulation of the magnetohyrdodynamics (MHD) model and the kinetic simulation of the particle-in-cell (PIC) model. The PIC domain is embedded in a small part of MHD domain. The both simulations are performed simultaneously in each domain and the bounded data are frequently exchanged each other to keep the consistency between the models. We have applied our new interlocked simulation to Alfvén wave propagation problem as a benchmark test and confirmed that the waves can propagate smoothly through the boundaries of each domain.     

Multi-scale plasma simulation by the interlocking of magnetohydrodynamic model and particle-in-cell kinetic model

Many kinds of simulation models have been developed to understand the complex plasma systems. However, these simulation models have been separately performed because the fundamental assumption of each model is different and restricts the physical processes in each spatial and temporal scales. On the other hand, it is well known that the interactions among the multiple scales may play crucial roles in the plasma phenomena (e.g. magnetic reconnection, collisionless shock), where the kinetic processes in the micro-scale may interact with the global structure in the fluid dynamics. To take self-consistently into account such multi-scale phenomena, we have developed a new simulation model by directly interlocking the fluid simulation of the magnetohyrdodynamics (MHD) model and the kinetic simulation of the particle-in-cell (PIC) model. The PIC domain is embedded in a small part of MHD domain. The both simulations are performed simultaneously in each domain and the bounded data are frequently exchanged each other to keep the consistency between the models. We have applied our new interlocked simulation to Alfvén wave propagation problem as a benchmark test and confirmed that the waves can propagate smoothly through the boundaries of each domain.     

Formation of electron depletion layer and parallel electric field in the separatrix region of anti-parallel magnetic reconnection

It is generally accepted that during collisionless magnetic reconnection, electrons flow toward the X line in the separatrix region, and then an electron depletion layer is formed.In this paper, with two-dimensional(2 D) particle-in-cell(PIC)simulation, we investigate the characteristics of the separatrix region during magnetic reconnection.In addition to the electron depletion layer, we find that there still exists an electric field parallel to the magnetic field in the separatrix region.Because a reduced ion-to-electron mass ratio and light speed are usually used in PIC simulation models, we also change these parameters to analyze the characteristics of the separatrix region.It is found that the increase in the ion-to-electron mass ratio makes the electron depletion layer and the parallel electric field more obvious, while the influence of light speed is less pronounced.     

Global particle simulation for a space weather model: present andfuture

The authors report progress in the long-term effort to represent the interaction of the solar wind with the Earth's magnetosphere using a three-dimensional electromagnetic particle model (EMPM) as a space weather model. Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation models have been refined to establish quantitative global modeling in comparison with observations. The EMPM has become more feasible as the power and speed of supercomputers have improved in recent years. Simulations with southward and dawnward turning IMFs have revealed the fundamental processes which have been confirmed by MHD simulations and observations. After a quasisteady state is established with an unmagnetized solar wind, a southward IMF is switched on, which causes the magnetosphere to stretch with reconnection at the dayside magnetopause. The plasma sheet in the near-Earth magnetotail clearly thins. The cross-field current also thins and intensifies, which excites a kinetic (drift kink) instability along the dawn-dusk direction. As a result of this instability the electron compressibility effect appears to be reduced and to allow the collisionless tearing to grow rapidly with the reduced B_z component. Later, magnetic reconnection also takes place in the near-Earth magnetotail. In the case where the northward IMF is switched gradually to dawnward, magnetic reconnection takes place at both the dawnside and duskside. The arrival of dawnward IMF at the magnetopause creates a reconnection groove which causes particle entry into the deep region of the magnetosphere via field lines that go near the magnetopause. The flank weak-field region joins onto the plasma sheet and the current sheet to form a geometrical feature called the cross-tail S that structurally integrates the magnetopause and the tail interior     

Particle in Cell/Monte Carlo Collision Method for Simulation of RF Glow Discharges: Effect of Super Particle Weighting

A parallel Particle in Cell/Monte Carlo Collision (PIC/MCC) numerical code for glow discharge plasma simulations is developed and verified. This method is based on simultaneous solution of the Lorentz equations of motion of super particles, coupled with the Poisson's equation for electric field. Collisions between the particles are modelled by the Monte Carlo method. Proper choice of particle weighting is critically important in order to perform adequate and efficient PIC simulations of plasma. Herein, effects of particle weighting on the simulations of capacitive radio‐frequency argon plasma discharges are studied in details. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Effect of the magnetization parameter on electron acceleration during relativistic magnetic reconnection in ultra-intense laser-produced plasma

Relativistic magnetic reconnection (MR) driven by two ultra-intense lasers with different spot separation distances is simulated by a three-dimensional (3D) kinetic relativistic particle-in-cell (PIC) code. We find that changing the separation distance between two laser spots can lead to different magnetization parameters of the laser plasma environment. As the separation distance becomes larger, the magnetization parameter σ becomes smaller. The electrons are accelerated in these MR processes and their energy spectra can be fitted with double power-law spectra whose index will increase with increasing separation distance. Moreover, the collisionless shocks' contribution to energetic electrons is close to the magnetic reconnection contribution with σ decreasing, which results in a steeper electron energy spectrum. Basing on the 3D outflow momentum configuration, the energetic electron spectra are recounted and their spectrum index is close to 1 in these three cases because the magnetization parameter σ is very high in the 3D outflow area.     

HL─1装置等离子体输运与锯齿特性的数值研究

本文利用一维圆柱等离子体输运编码（ＴＲＡＮＰＹ），编制了模拟锯齿振荡的大型编码（ＳＡＷＭＯＤ）。对锯齿振荡的研究，我们选用了两种具有代表性的理论模型：重联模型和湍流模型，后者特别适用于低ｑａ放电的锯齿特性研究。重联模型的锯齿振荡是由于磁力线的完全重联引起的，而湍流模型的锯齿振荡是因为微观湍流或磁力线的随机化而产生的。最后，我们将ＨＬ─１装置的一次典型高密放电的参数代入（ＳＡＷＭＯＤ）编码，运算结果表明，重联模型和湍流模型均能解释实验观测的锯齿现象，理论模拟与实验结果符合较好。     

Fast magnetic reconnection in laser-produced plasma bubbles

Recent experiments have observed magnetic reconnection in high-energy-density, laser-produced plasma bubbles, with reconnection rates observed to be much higher than can be explained by classical theory. Based on fully kinetic particle simulations we find that fast reconnection in these strongly driven systems can be explained by magnetic flux pileup at the shoulder of the current sheet and subsequent fast reconnection via two-fluid, collisionless mechanisms. In the strong drive regime with two-fluid effects, we find that the ultimate reconnection time is insensitive to the nominal system Alfvén time.     

Colour reconnection in e+e– → W+W–at {\sqrt s } =180–209 GeV

The effects of the final state interaction phenomenon known as colour reconnection are investigated at centre-of-mass energies in the range ≃ 189–209 using the OPAL detector at LEP. Colour reconnection is expected to affect observables based on charged particles in hadronic decays of . Measurements of inclusive charged particle multiplicities, and of their angular distribution with respect to the four jet axes of the events, are used to test models of colour reconnection. The data are found to exclude extreme scenarios of the Sj?strand-Khoze Type I () model and are compatible with other models, both with and without colour reconnection effects. In the context of the model, the best agreement with data is obtained for a reconnection probability of 37%. Assuming no colour reconnection, the charged particle multiplicity in hadronically decaying W bosons is measured to be =19.38±0.05(stat.)±0.08(syst.). Arrival of the final proofs: 28 November 2005     

Displacement current and the generation of parallel electric fields

We show for the first time the dynamical relationship between the generation of magnetic field-aligned electric field (E||) and the temporal changes and spatial gradients of magnetic and velocity shears, and the plasma density in Earth's magnetosphere. We predict that the signatures of reconnection and auroral particle acceleration should have a correlation with low plasma density, and a localized voltage drop (V||) should often be associated with a localized magnetic stress concentration. Previous interpretations of the E|| generation are mostly based on the generalized Ohm's law, causing serious confusion in understanding the nature of reconnection and auroral acceleration.     

Jet deflection by very weak guide fields during magnetic reconnection

Previous 2D simulations of reconnection using a standard model of initially antiparallel magnetic fields have detected electron jets outflowing from the x point into the ion outflow exhausts. Associated with these jets are extended "outer electron diffusion regions." New PIC simulations with an ion to electron mass ratio as large as 1836 (an H(+) plasma) now show that the jets are strongly deflected and the outer electron diffusion region is broken up by a very weak out-of-plane magnetic guide field, even though the diffusion rate itself is unchanged. Jet outflow and deflection are interpreted in terms of electron dynamics and are compared to recent measurements of jets in the presence of a small guide field in Earth's magnetosheath.     

Nonphysical noises and instabilities in plasma simulation due to a spatial grid

A series of plasma numerical simulation has been performed in order to understand the enhancement of nonphysical noises and instabilities due to the use of a spatial grid. Several different superparticle models including the Nearest Grid Point (NGP) model, Cloud-in-Cell (CIC) or Particle-in-Cell (PIC) models, Lewis energy conserving code, and the multipole expansion code have been examined for a Maxwellian plasma and a one beam plasma using a one-dimensional, one-specie (electron) plasma. An instability was observed for all of the models when the Debye length was too small compared with the grid size. When the Debye length is comparable to the grid size, no instabilities were observed. However, the enhancement of noises at high frequencies (ω > 3ω_pe may not always be negligible- even for long wavelength modes for the NGP model. For the NGP and CIC, PIC models, the experimental results are in good agreement with Langdon's theory. It is observed that the dipole expansion model, which is the first-order approximation to the multipole expansion scheme, is similar to CIC, PIC models in many respects and appears to be the same order of approximation.     

Comparison study of 2D images of temperature fluctuations during sawtooth oscillation with theoretical models

High temporal and spatial resolution two-dimensional (2D) images of electron temperature fluctuations were employed to study the sawtooth oscillation in the Toroidal Experiment for Technically Oriented Research tokamak plasmas. The 2D images are directly compared with the expected 2D patterns of the plasma pressure (or electron temperature) from various theoretical models. The observed experimental 2D images are only partially in agreement with the expected patterns from each model: The image of the initial reconnection process is similar to that of the ballooning mode model. The intermediate and final stages of the reconnection process resemble those of the full reconnection model. The time evolution of the images of the hot spot or island is partially consistent to those from the full reconnection model but is not consistent with those from the quasi-interchange model.     

An energy- and charge-conserving,implicit, electrostatic particle-in-cell algorithm

This paper discusses a novel fully implicit formulation for a one-dimensional electrostatic particle-in-cell (PIC) plasma simulation approach. Unlike earlier implicit electrostatic PIC approaches (which are based on a linearized Vlasov–Poisson formulation), ours is based on a nonlinearly converged Vlasov–Ampére (VA) model. By iterating particles and fields to a tight nonlinear convergence tolerance, the approach features superior stability and accuracy properties, avoiding most of the accuracy pitfalls in earlier implicit PIC implementations. In particular, the formulation is stable against temporal (Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy) and spatial (aliasing) instabilities. It is charge- and energy-conserving to numerical round-off for arbitrary implicit time steps (unlike the earlier “energy-conserving” explicit PIC formulation, which only conserves energy in the limit of arbitrarily small time steps). While momentum is not exactly conserved, errors are kept small by an adaptive particle sub-stepping orbit integrator, which is instrumental to prevent particle tunneling (a deleterious effect for long-term accuracy). The VA model is orbit-averaged along particle orbits to enforce an energy conservation theorem with particle sub-stepping. As a result, very large time steps, constrained only by the dynamical time scale of interest, are possible without accuracy loss. Algorithmically, the approach features a Jacobian-free Newton–Krylov solver. A main development in this study is the nonlinear elimination of the new-time particle variables (positions and velocities). Such nonlinear elimination, which we term particle enslavement, results in a nonlinear formulation with memory requirements comparable to those of a fluid computation, and affords us substantial freedom in regards to the particle orbit integrator. Numerical examples are presented that demonstrate the advertised properties of the scheme. In particular, long-time ion acoustic wave simulations show that numerical accuracy does not degrade even with very large implicit time steps, and that significant CPU gains are possible.     

Catastrophe model for fast magnetic reconnection onset

A catastrophe model for the onset of fast magnetic reconnection is presented that suggests why plasma systems with magnetic free energy remain apparently stable for long times and then suddenly release their energy. For a given set of plasma parameters there are generally two stable reconnection solutions: a slow (Sweet-Parker) solution and a fast (Alfvénic) Hall reconnection solution. Below a critical resistivity the slow solution disappears and fast reconnection dominates. Scaling arguments predicting the two solutions and the critical resistivity are confirmed with two-fluid simulations.     

单链表在离子发动机光学系统粒子模拟中的应用

 目前离子发动机光学系统数值模拟大多采用PIC方法,由于该方法需要跟踪单个粒子的运动,因此需要存储每个粒子的位置信息与运动信息。传统的粒子模拟程序中,保存粒子信息大多采用数组的方式,但是采用这种方式存在弊端,例如对粒子总数变化的自适应不好。基于此开发了一种使用链式存储结构的粒子模拟程序,该程序使用带头节点的单向链表存储粒子信息。使用基于链式存储结构的PIC方法对离子发动机光学系统进行了粒子模拟,验证了链式粒子信息存储方法在粒子模拟中的可用性。模拟表明：（1）在粒子模拟中采用链式存储结构存储粒子信息,无需预先指定最大粒子总数,程序可自适应粒子总数的变化,因此无需进行试算,节省了计算时间;（2）在粒子模拟中采用链式存储结构,由于不存在内存资源的浪费,因而可显著提高程序的存储效率与计算效率。     

Production of energetic electrons during magnetic reconnection

The production of energetic electrons during magnetic reconnection is explored with full particle simulations and analytic analysis. Density cavities generated along separatrices bounding growing magnetic islands support parallel electric fields that act as plasma accelerators. Electrons because of their low mass are fast enough to make multiple passes through these acceleration cavities and are therefore capable of reaching relativistic energies.     

基于等离子体粒子模拟的喷气Z箍缩过程物理研究

给出了喷气Z箍缩动力学过程在二维柱坐标系下的等离子体粒子模拟物理模型,编写了相应的程序.对低电流驱动下的稀薄喷气Z箍缩动力学过程进行了验证性的等离子体粒子模拟,得到了许多微观的Z箍缩物理信息,如负载中的电流(密度)、电磁场、粒子位置和密度的时空演化,以及总的z箍缩拖尾质量和拖尾电流等信息.发现在Z箍缩过程中,模拟得到的等离子体电流随时间的变化反映出了等离子体箍缩到心和反弹的过程特征,磁场随径向的变化与长直导线电流给出的磁场很接近;电子所受到的电场力和磁场力(洛伦兹力)是相当的,而离子所受到的力主要是电场力;电子首先在z方向加速,然后在自身运动产生电流的磁场的作用下向轴心箍缩,而离子是在电子和离子电荷分离所产生的电场力的作用下向轴心运动;在压缩到轴心附近时,电子首先因静电排斥而飞散,而离子则在惯性的作用下继续向轴心箍缩,而后滞止飞散.Z箍缩等离子体的拖尾质量在20%左右,拖尾电流最大时在7%左右.