Plasma Physics Via Computer Simulation

By addebook • Jul 14th, 2008 • Category: Mathematics

Plasma Physics Via Computer Simulation
by Charles K. Birdsall, A.Bruce Langdon

Plasma Physics Via Computer Simulation
By Charles K. Birdsall, A.Bruce Langdon

Publisher: McGraw Hill Higher Education
Number Of Pages: 470
Publication Date: 1984-12-01
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0070053715
ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780070053717
Binding: Paperback

Summary: Basics of Computer Simulation of Plasmas
Rating: 5

I’ve never done any computer simulation for plasmas before and was looking for a good introduction to how to go about it. I found this book to be an excellent introduction. Much better than any of the review articles I found on the subject, which tend to be terse. This book goes step by step and walks you through everything that goes into a very basic 1-D electrostatic code. It then tells you how to turn the electrostatic code into an electromagnetic one. The middle section of the book deals with the numerical methods used from a more mathematical standpoint (convergence & stability) and the last part goes into making 2D and 3D codes. I have to admit that I’ve only read the first part and glanced at the later sections for reference, but so far it’s been an excellent reference.

My only complaint is that I wish there were a newer edition. The computational power the book assumes is much less than is currently available and in some ways that complicates the methods that are used. It does, however, teach you to be more efficient. I also found it annoying that the example code is in Fortran. I find it hard to understand Fortran code given the (necessarily) cryptic variable names and weird syntax.

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