Molecular Dynamic Studies of Particle Wake Potentials in Plasmas

POSTER

Abstract

Fast Ignition studies require a detailed understanding of electron scattering, stopping, and energy deposition in plasmas with variable values for the number of particles within a Debye sphere. Presently there is disagreement in the literature concerning the proper description of these processes. Developing and validating proper descriptions requires studying the processes using first-principle electrostatic simulations and possibly including magnetic fields. We are using the particle-particle particle-mesh (P$^3$M) code ddcMD to perform these simulations. As a starting point in our study, we examined the wake of a particle passing through a plasma. In this poster, we compare the wake observed in 3D ddcMD simulations with that predicted by Vlasov theory and those observed in the electrostatic PIC code BEPS where the cell size was reduced to .03$\lambda_D$.

*Prepared by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and by UCLA under Grant DE-FG52-09NA29552.

Authors

  • Ian Ellis

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and University of California, Los Angeles

  • Frank R. Graziani

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    • LLNL

  • James Glosli

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    • LLNL

  • D.J. Strozzi

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Michael P. Surh

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    • LLNL

  • David Richards

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Viktor Decyk

    • UCLA Plasma Simulation Group
    • University of California Los Angeles
    • UCLA
    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Warren Mori

    • University of California, Los Angeles
    • University of California, Los Angeles, California
    • UCLA
    • Department of Physics \& Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles
    • University of California, Los Angeles USA