High order resolution of the Maxwell-Fokker-Planck-Landau model intended for ICF applications

TL;DR

This paper introduces a high-order deterministic numerical method for the 2D-3D Vlasov-Maxwell system with Fokker-Planck-Landau operators, aimed at simulating plasma physics in Inertial Confinement Fusion with high efficiency.

Contribution

It develops a novel high-order numerical approach with parallelization and fast algorithms for complex plasma models relevant to ICF applications.

Findings

Efficient simulation of plasma kinetics in ICF scenarios.

Validation of methods for multiscale, high-dimensional physics.

Feasible computation of hundreds of picoseconds in 5D phase space.

Abstract

A high order, deterministic direct numerical method is proposed for the nonrelativistic $2D_{\bf x} \times 3D_{\bf v}$ Vlasov-Maxwell system, coupled with Fokker-Planck-Landau type operators. Such a system is devoted to the modelling of electronic transport and energy deposition in the general frame of Inertial Confinement Fusion applications. It describes the kinetics of plasma physics in the nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium regime. Strong numerical constraints lead us to develop specific methods and approaches for validation, that might be used in other fields where couplings between equations, multiscale physics, and high dimensionality are involved. Parallelisation (MPI communication standard) and fast algorithms such as the multigrid method are employed, that make this direct approach be computationally affordable for simulations of hundreds of picoseconds, when dealing with configurations that present five dimensions in phase space.