Explicit volume-preserving numerical schemes for relativistic trajectories and spin dynamics
Abstract
A class of explicit numerical schemes is developed to solve for the relativistic dynamics and spin of particles in electromagnetic fields, using the Lorentz-BMT equation formulated in the Clifford algebra representation of Baylis. It is demonstrated that these numerical methods, reminiscent of the leapfrog and Verlet methods, share a number of important properties: they are energy-conserving, volume-conserving and second order convergent. These properties are analysed empirically by benchmarking against known analytical solutions in constant uniform electrodynamic fields. It is demonstrated that the numerical error in a constant magnetic field remains bounded for long time simulations in contrast to the Boris pusher, whose angular error increases linearly with time. Finally, the intricate spin dynamics of a particle is investigated in a plane wave field configuration.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2012.11652,
title = {Explicit volume-preserving numerical schemes for relativistic trajectories and spin dynamics},
author = {R. Cabrera and A. G. Campos and D. I. Bondar and S. MacLean and F. Fillion-Gourdeau},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2012.11652},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
15 pages, 9 figures