Analysis of a particle-in-cell code based on a time-adaptive mesh

Several techniques are known for the coupled simulation of charged particles and electromagnetic fields. In order to achieve accurate results, various parameters have to be taken into account. In Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations, the number of macro particles per cell, the resolution of the computational grid, and other parameters strongly affect the accuracy of the results. In the code tamBCI [1], based on a time-adaptive mesh, additional variables related to the adaptive grid refinement have to be chosen appropriately. An analysis of these parameters is carried out and the results are applied to fully three-dimensional, self-consistent simulations of the injector section of FLASH [2].