A conservative numerical method for the Cahn–Hilliard equation in complex domains

We propose an efficient finite difference scheme for solving the Cahn–Hilliard equation with a variable mobility in complex domains. Our method employs a type of unconditionally gradient stable splitting discretization. We also extend the scheme to compute the Cahn–Hilliard equation in arbitrarily shaped domains. We prove the mass conservation property of the proposed discrete scheme for complex domains. The resulting discretized equations are solved using a multigrid method. Numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate that the proposed scheme can deal with complex geometries robustly. Furthermore, the multigrid efficiency is retained even if the embedded domain is present.     

A discontinuous Galerkin method for the Vlasov–Poisson system

A discontinuous Galerkin method for approximating the Vlasov–Poisson system of equations describing the time evolution of a collisionless plasma is proposed. The method is mass conservative and, in the case that piecewise constant functions are used as a basis, the method preserves the positivity of the electron distribution function and weakly enforces continuity of the electric field through mesh interfaces and boundary conditions. The performance of the method is investigated by computing several examples and error estimates of the approximation are stated. In particular, computed results are benchmarked against established theoretical results for linear advection and the phenomenon of linear Landau damping for both the Maxwell and Lorentz distributions. Moreover, two nonlinear problems are considered: nonlinear Landau damping and a version of the two-stream instability are computed. For the latter, fine scale details of the resulting long-time BGK-like state are presented. Conservation laws are examined and various comparisons to theory are made. The results obtained demonstrate that the discontinuous Galerkin method is a viable option for integrating the Vlasov–Poisson system.     

A positivity-preserving high-order semi-Lagrangian discontinuous Galerkin scheme for the Vlasov–Poisson equations

The Vlasov–Poisson equations describe the evolution of a collisionless plasma, represented through a probability density function (PDF) that self-interacts via an electrostatic force. One of the main difficulties in numerically solving this system is the severe time-step restriction that arises from parts of the PDF associated with moderate-to-large velocities. The dominant approach in the plasma physics community for removing these time-step restrictions is the so-called particle-in-cell (PIC) method, which discretizes the distribution function into a set of macro-particles, while the electric field is represented on a mesh. Several alternatives to this approach exist, including fully Lagrangian, fully Eulerian, and so-called semi-Lagrangian methods. The focus of this work is the semi-Lagrangian approach, which begins with a grid-based Eulerian representation of both the PDF and the electric field, then evolves the PDF via Lagrangian dynamics, and finally projects this evolved field back onto the original Eulerian mesh. In particular, we develop in this work a method that discretizes the 1 + 1 Vlasov–Poisson system via a high-order discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method in phase space, and an operator split, semi-Lagrangian method in time. Second-order accuracy in time is relatively easy to achieve via Strang operator splitting. With additional work, using higher-order splitting and a higher-order method of characteristics, we also demonstrate how to push this scheme to fourth-order accuracy in time. We show how to resolve all of the Lagrangian dynamics in such a way that mass is exactly conserved, positivity is maintained, and high-order accuracy is achieved. The Poisson equation is solved to high-order via the smallest stencil local discontinuous Galerkin (LDG) approach. We test the proposed scheme on several standard test cases.     

Asymptotic-Preserving Particle-In-Cell method for the Vlasov–Poisson system near quasineutrality

This paper deals with the numerical resolution of the Vlasov–Poisson system in a nearly quasineutral regime by Particle-In-Cell (PIC) methods. In this regime, Classical PIC methods are subject to stability constraints on the time and space steps related to the small Debye length and large plasma frequency. Here, we propose an “Asymptotic-Preserving” PIC scheme which is not subjected to these limitations. Additionally, when the plasma period and Debye length are small compared to the time and space steps, this method provides a consistent PIC discretization of the quasineutral Vlasov equation. We perform several one-dimensional numerical experiments which provide a solid validation of the method and its underlying concepts, and compare the method with Classical PIC and Direct-Implicit methods.     

A transition rate transformation method for solving advection–dispersion equation

Advection–dispersion equation is widely used to describe solute transport in hydrology. However, using conventional methods, e.g., finite difference method, to solve this equation may result in numerical dispersion and oscillation, especially when the advection velocity is large. This paper presents a novel transition rate transformation (TRT) method to simulate the advection–dispersion process. Advection–dispersion equation is invariant as the transition rate function is transformed under the condition that the first and second spatial moments of the transition rate are kept unchanged. According to this invariance, the TRT method constructs simple transition rate functions to solve the advection–dispersion equation. Our simulation shows that the results obtained by the TRT method agree well with analytical solutions. The freedom of the selection of transition rate functions may be very useful for the simulations of the advection–dispersion problems.     

A Uniqueness Criterion for Unbounded Solutions to the Vlasov–Poisson System

We prove uniqueness for the Vlasov–Poisson system in two and three dimensions under the condition that the L^p norms of the macroscopic density grow at most linearly with respect to p. This allows for solutions with logarithmic singularities. We provide explicit examples of initial data that fulfill the uniqueness condition and that exhibit a logarithmic blow-up. In the gravitational two-dimensional case, such states are intimately related to radially symmetric steady solutions of the system. Our method relies on the Lagrangian formulation for the solutions, exploiting the second-order structure of the corresponding ODE.     

A quintic B-spline finite-element method for solving the nonlinear Schr?dinger equation

The nonlinear Schr?dinger equation is numerically solved using the collocation method based on quintic B-spline interpolation functions. The efficiency and robustness of the proposed method are demonstrated by standard test problems, such as a one-soliton solution, interaction of two solitons, and formation of a soliton. This method is compared with both the analytical and numerical techniques in the computational section.     

On the Magnetic Shield for a Vlasov–Poisson Plasma

We study the screening of a bounded body \(\Gamma \) against the effect of a wind of charged particles, by means of a shield produced by a magnetic field which becomes infinite on the border of \(\Gamma \). The charged wind is modeled by a Vlasov–Poisson plasma, the bounded body by a torus, and the external magnetic field is taken close to the border of \(\Gamma \). We study two models: a plasma composed by different species with positive or negative charges, and finite total mass of each species, and another made of many species of the same sign, each having infinite mass. We investigate the time evolution of both systems, showing in particular that the plasma particles cannot reach the body. Finally we discuss possible extensions to more general initial data. We show also that when the magnetic lines are straight lines, (that imposes an unbounded body), the previous results can be improved.     

VALIS: A split-conservative scheme for the relativistic 2D Vlasov–Maxwell system

An accurate treatment of the relativistic Vlasov–Maxwell system is of fundamental importance to a broad range of plasma physics topics, including laser–plasma interaction, transport in solar and magnetospheric plasmas and magnetically confined plasmas. This paper introduces VALIS: an algorithm for the numerical solution of the Vlasov–Maxwell system in two spatial dimensions and two momentum dimensions.     

Non-standard finite-difference time-domain method for solving the Schrödinger equation

The literature on chaos has highlighted several chaotic systems with special features. In this work, a novel chaotic jerk system with non-hyperbolic equilibrium is proposed. The dynamics of this new system is revealed through equilibrium analysis, phase portrait, bifurcation diagram and Lyapunov exponents. In addition, we investigate the time-delay effects on the proposed system. Realisation of such a system is presented to verify its feasibility.     

A nonconforming finite element method for the Cahn–Hilliard equation

This paper reports a fully discretized scheme for the Cahn–Hilliard equation. The method uses a convexity-splitting scheme to discretize in the temporal variable and a nonconforming finite element method to discretize in the spatial variable. And, the scheme can preserve the mass conservation and energy dissipation properties of the original problem. Some typical phase transition phenomena are also observed through the numerical examples.     

An improved element-free Galerkin method for solving the generalized fifth-order Korteweg–de Vries equation

In this paper, an improved element-free Galerkin (IEFG) method is proposed to solve the generalized fifth-order Korteweg-de Vries (gfKdV) equation. When the traditional element-free Galerkin (EFG) method is used to solve such an equation, unstable or even wrong numerical solutions may be obtained due to the violation of the consistency conditions of the moving least-squares (MLS) shape functions. To solve this problem, the EFG method is improved by employing the improved moving least-squares (IMLS) approximation based on the shifted polynomial basis functions. The effectiveness of the IEFG method for the gfKdV equation is investigated by using some numerical examples. Meanwhile, the motion of single solitary wave and the interaction of two solitons are simulated using the IEFG method.     

A numerical method for fractional Schrödinger equation of Lennard-Jones potential

Depending on fractional analysis, we find a numerical algorithm to solve the time-independent fractional Schrödinger equation in case of Lennard-Jones potential in one dimension. We apply the algorithm for multiple values of the fractional parameter of the space-dependent fractional Schrödinger equation and multiple values of the system's energy to find the wave function and the probability in these cases.     

Bounds on the Growth of the Velocity Support for the Solutions of the Vlasov–Poisson Equation in a Torus

A bound on the growth of the velocity for the Vlasov–Poisson equation in a torus is given in one and two dimensions. The main tool used in the proof is a partition into fast and slow particles and the ergodic property of the free motion in a torus.     

Novel energy dissipative method on the adaptive spatial discretization for the Allen–Cahn equation

We propose a novel energy dissipative method for the Allen–Cahn equation on nonuniform grids. For spatial discretization, the classical central difference method is utilized, while the average vector field method is applied for time discretization. Compared with the average vector field method on the uniform mesh, the proposed method can involve fewer grid points and achieve better numerical performance over long time simulation. This is due to the moving mesh method, which can concentrate the grid points more densely where the solution changes drastically. Numerical experiments are provided to illustrate the advantages of the proposed concrete adaptive energy dissipative scheme under large time and space steps over a long time.     

A stable and conservative high order multi-block method for the compressible Navier–Stokes equations

A stable and conservative high order multi-block method for the time-dependent compressible Navier–Stokes equations has been developed. Stability and conservation are proved using summation-by-parts operators, weak interface conditions and the energy method. This development makes it possible to exploit the efficiency of the high order finite difference method for non-trivial geometries. The computational results corroborate the theoretical analysis.     

A low numerical dissipation immersed interface method for the compressible Navier–Stokes equations

A numerical method to solve the compressible Navier–Stokes equations around objects of arbitrary shape using Cartesian grids is described. The approach considered here uses an embedded geometry representation of the objects and approximate the governing equations with a low numerical dissipation centered finite-difference discretization. The method is suitable for compressible flows without shocks and can be classified as an immersed interface method. The objects are sharply captured by the Cartesian mesh by appropriately adapting the discretization stencils around the irregular grid nodes, located around the boundary. In contrast with available methods, no jump conditions are used or explicitly derived from the boundary conditions, although a number of elements are adopted from previous immersed interface approaches. A new element in the present approach is the use of the summation-by-parts formalism to develop stable non-stiff first-order derivative approximations at the irregular grid points. Second-order derivative approximations, as those appearing in the transport terms, can be stiff when irregular grid points are located too close to the boundary. This is addressed using a semi-implicit time integration method. Moreover, it is shown that the resulting implicit equations can be solved explicitly in the case of constant transport properties. Convergence studies are performed for a rotating cylinder and vortex shedding behind objects of varying shapes at different Mach and Reynolds numbers.     

A conservative Fourier pseudospectral algorithm for the nonlinear Schrdinger equation

In this paper, we derive a new method for a nonlinear Schrodinger system by using the square of the first-order Fourier spectral differentiation matrix D1 instead of the traditional second-order Fourier spectral differentiation matrix D2 to approximate the second derivative. We prove that the proposed method preserves the charge and energy conservation laws exactly. A deduction argument is used to prove that the numerical solution is second-order convergent to the exact solutions in ｜｜·｜｜2 norm. Some numerical results are reported to illustrate the efficiency of the new scheme in preserving the charge and energy conservation laws.