Abstract: | In this paper, we propose a new conservative semi-Lagrangian (SL) finite
difference (FD) WENO scheme for linear advection equations, which can serve as a
base scheme for the Vlasov equation by Strang splitting 4]. The reconstruction procedure
in the proposed SL FD scheme is the same as the one used in the SL finite volume
(FV) WENO scheme 3]. However, instead of inputting cell averages and approximate
the integral form of the equation in a FV scheme, we input point values and approximate
the differential form of equation in a FD spirit, yet retaining very high order
(fifth order in our experiment) spatial accuracy. The advantage of using point values,
rather than cell averages, is to avoid the second order spatial error, due to the shearing
in velocity (v) and electrical field (E) over a cell when performing the Strang splitting
to the Vlasov equation. As a result, the proposed scheme has very high spatial accuracy,
compared with second order spatial accuracy for Strang split SL FV scheme for
solving the Vlasov-Poisson (VP) system. We perform numerical experiments on linear
advection, rigid body rotation problem; and on the Landau damping and two-stream
instabilities by solving the VP system. For comparison, we also apply (1) the conservative
SL FD WENO scheme, proposed in 22] for incompressible advection problem, (2)
the conservative SL FD WENO scheme proposed in 21] and (3) the non-conservative
version of the SL FD WENO scheme in 3] to the same test problems. The performances
of different schemes are compared by the error table, solution resolution of sharp interface,
and by tracking the conservation of physical norms, energies and entropies,
which should be physically preserved. |