This book addresses hybrid simulation of plasmas; it is aimed at developing insight into the essence of plasma behavior. Major current applications are to astrophysical and space plasmas. Some applications are connected with active experiments in space. However, hybrid simulations are also being used to gain an understanding of basic plasma phenomena such as particle acceleration by shocks, magnetic field reconnect ion in neutral current sheets, generation of waves by beams, mass loading of the supersonic flow by heavy pickup ions and the dynamics of tangential discontinuities. Such simulations may be very important not only for the study of the astrophysical plasmas, but also for the study of the magnetically and inertially contained fusion plasmas, and other laboratory plasma devices. Plasma is the fourth state of matter, consisting of electrons, ions and 4 neutral atoms, usually at temperatures above 10 K. The stars and sun are plasmas; the local interstellar medium, the solar wind, magnetospheres and ionospheres of planets and comets, Van-Allen belts, etc., are all plasmas. Indeed, much of the known matter in the universe is plasma.

There is no book so far that gives a comprehensive description of the many hybrid models used in practical applications to plasma installation and to astrophysical and space plasmas Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Klappentext
This book is a comprehensive description of hybrid plasma simulation models and will provide a very useful summary and guide to the vast literature on this topic. It addresses researchers and graduate students knowledgeable about computational science and numerical analysis, and can be used in courses on astrophysical and space plasmas. It is also meant for plasma installation designers. The coupled Vlasov--Maxwell equations with collisions describing well the physical system are far too heavy for numerical siumulations. Hybrid models treat some aspects kinetically and some as fluids. In the first part the author discusses hybrid codes, which include a wide spectrum of description for ions, positrons, dust grains, atoms and electrons. In the second part he treats the applications to basic plasma phenomena like particle acceleration and dissipation processes as well as to the global interaction of the solar wind with nonmagnetic planets, comets, and the local interstellar medium.

Inhalt
1 Physical Systems and Computational Models.- 2 Particle-Mesh Models.- 3 Time Integration of the Particle Motion Equations.- 4 Density and Current Assignment Force Interpolation Conservation Laws.- 5 Time Integration of the Field and Electron Pressure Equations.- 6 General Loops for Hybrid Codes Multiscale Methods.- 7 Particle Loading and Injection Boundary Conditions.- 8 Collisionless Shock Simulation.- 9 Tangential Discontinuity Simulation.- 10 Magnetic Field Reconnection Simulation.- 11 Beam Dynamics Simulation.- 12 Interaction of the Solar Wind with Astrophysical Objects.- 13 Appendix.- 14 Solutions.- References.