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Propagator Computational Method for Drift‐Diffusion Equations to Describe Plasma‐Wall Interaction
Author(s) -
Gonzalez J.,
Donoso J. M.,
Conde L.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
contributions to plasma physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.531
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1521-3986
pISSN - 0863-1042
DOI - 10.1002/ctpp.201410081
Subject(s) - propagator , plasma , physics , gravitational singularity , diffusion , smoothing , boundary (topology) , boundary value problem , spurious relationship , mathematical analysis , statistical physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , statistics
Plasmas evolve under sharp conditions such as localized currents, charge separation and absorption or emission of particles. The plasma‐wall interaction is one of these singularities. Numerical methods based upon differences usually fail under these abrupt boundary conditions leading to new spurious noise and singularities of numerical nature. Here, we extend the path‐sum integral numerical method to account for abrupt boundary conditions in plasma drift‐diffusion equations. The boundary‐path‐integral solution also shows the advantages of the smoothing affects of the diffusive short‐time propagators for unbounded domains. The proposed scheme is free of artificial numerical smoothing functions to mask sharp behaviours. This stable, robust and grid‐free algorithm is applied to test cases of plasma‐wall interaction with an advancing scheme that simultaneously copes with disparate electron and ion time scales. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)