Comparison of Vlasov solvers for spacecraft charging simulation

Abstract

Abstract. The modelling and the numerical resolution of the electrical charging of a spacecraft in interaction with the Earth magnetosphere is considered. It involves the Vlasov-Poisson system, endowed with non standard boundary conditions. We discuss the pros and cons of several numerical methods for solving this system, using as benchmark a simple 1D model which exhibits the main difficulties of the original models.Mathematics Subject Classification. 82D10, 65M25, 76X05, 78A35.