A Characteristic Mapping Method for Vlasov-Poisson with Extreme Resolution Properties

Abstract

We propose an efficient semi-Lagrangian characteristic mapping method for solving the one+one-dimensional Vlasov-Poisson equations with high precision on a coarse grid. The flow map is evolved numerically and exponential resolution in linear time is obtained. Global third-order convergence in space and time is shown and conservation properties are assessed. For benchmarking, we consider linear and nonlinear Landau damping and the two-stream instability. We compare the results with a Fourier pseudo-spectral method and results from the literature. The extreme fine-scale resolution features are illustrated showing the method’s capabilities to efficiently treat filamentation in fusion plasma simulations.