No Arabic abstract
First-order accurate degenerate variational integration (DVI) was introduced in C. L. Ellison et. al, Phys. Plasmas 25, 052502 (2018) for systems with a degenerate Lagrangian, i.e. one in which the velocity-space Hessian is singular. In this paper we introducing second order accurate DVI schemes, both with and without non-uniform time stepping. We show that it is not in general possible to construct a second order scheme with a preserved two-form by composing a first order scheme with its adjoint, and discuss the conditions under which such a composition is possible. We build two classes of second order accurate DVI schemes. We test these second order schemes numerically on two systems having noncanonical variables, namely the magnetic field line and guiding center systems. Variational integration for Hamiltonian systems with nonuniform time steps, in terms of an extended phase space Hamiltonian, is generalized to noncanonical variables. It is shown that preservation of proper degeneracy leads to single-step methods without parasitic modes, i.e. to non-uniform time step DVIs. This extension applies to second order accurate as well as first order schemes, and can be applied to adapt the time stepping to an error estimate.
This paper had no abstract originally. A second-order symplectic integration algorithm for guiding center motion is presented. The algorithm is based on the Poincare (mid-point) generating function.
In the present paper we consider the nonlinear interaction of high frequency intense electromagnetic (EM) beam with degenerate electron plasmas. In a slowly varying envelop approximation the beam dynamics is described by the couple of nonlinear equations for the vector and scalar potentials. Numerical simulations demonstrate that for an arbitrary level of degeneracy the plasma supports existence of axially symmetric 2D solitons which are stable against small perturbations. The solitons exist if the power trapped in the structures, being the growing function of soliton amplitude, is above a certain critical value but below the value determining by electron cavitation. The robustness of obtained soliton solutions was verified by simulating the dynamics of initial Gaussian beams with parameters close to the solitonic ones. After few diffraction lengths the beam attains the profile close to the profile of the ground state soliton and propagates for a long distance without detectable distortion. The simulations have been performed for the input Gaussian beams with parameters far from ground state solutions. It is shown that the beam parameters are oscillating near the parameters of the ground soliton solution and thus the formation of oscillating waveguide structures takes place.
Upon combining Northrops picture of charged particle motion with modern liquid crystal theories, this paper provides a new description of guiding center dynamics (to lowest order). This new perspective is based on a rotation gauge field (gyrogauge) that encodes rotations around the magnetic field. In liquid crystal theory, an analogue rotation field is used to encode the rotational state of rod-like molecules. Instead of resorting to sophisticated tools (e.g. Hamiltonian perturbation theory and Lie series expansions) that still remain essential in higher-order gyrokinetics, the present approach combines the WKB method with a simple kinematical ansatz, which is then replaced into the charged particle Lagrangian. The latter is eventually averaged over the gyrophase to produce Littlejohns guiding-center equations. A crucial role is played by the vector potential for the gyrogauge field. A similar vector potential is related to liquid crystal defects and is known as `wryness tensor in Eringens micropolar theory.
The difference between the guiding center phase-space Lagrangians derived in [J.W. Burby, J. Squire, and H. Qin, Phys. Plasmas {bf 20}, 072105 (2013)] and [F.I. Parra, and I. Calvo, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion {bf 53}, 045001 (2011)] is due to a different definition of the guiding center coordinates. In this brief communication the difference between the guiding center coordinates is calculated explicitly.
We address an experimental observation of shear flow of micron sized dust particles in a strongly coupled complex plasma in presence of a homogeneous magnetic field. Two concentric Aluminum rings of different size are placed on the lower electrode of a radio frequency (rf) parallel plate discharge. The modified local sheath electric field is pointing outward/inward close to the inner/outher ring, respectively. The microparticles, confined by the rings and subject to an ion wind that driven by the local sheath electric field and deflected by an externally applied magnetic field, start flowing in azimuthal direction. Depending upon the rf amplitudes on the electrodes, the dust layers show rotation in opposite direction at the edges of the ring-shaped cloud resulting a strong shear in its center. MD simulations shows a good agreement with the experimental results.