Higher Order Charge Conserving Electromagnetic Finite Element Particle in Cell Method

Abstract

Until recently, electromagnetic finite element PIC (EM-FEMPIC) methods that demonstrated charge conservation used explicit field solvers. It is only recently, that a series of papers developed the mathematics necessary for charge conservation within an implicit field solve and demonstrated for a number of examples. This permits using time steps sizes that are necessary to capture the physics as opposed to being restricted to those constrained by geometry. One aspect that is missing is higher order basis functions to represent both fields and particles. Higher order basis can be particularly helpful in effectively capturing complex field layouts with fewer degrees of freedom. Developing a framework for higher order EM-FEMPIC that maintains stability, improves accuracy, and conserves charge is the principal goal of this paper. A number of results are presented that attest to its efficacy.