Sining Gong

Andrew Christlieb, Sining Gong, F. Alejandro Padilla-Gomez et al.

We propose a conservative adaptive rank method for the 1D1V Wigner-Poisson system. The method targets a central challenge in deterministic quantum kinetic simulations: reducing the cost of phase-space evolution while preserving the macroscopic invariants needed for physical fidelity. The scheme combines a sampling-based adaptive rank Wigner-Poisson update [7] with a conservative macroscopic correction. A conservative density-momentum solve provides local macroscopic updates, a Fermi-Dirac-type reconstruction transfers them to the kinetic solution, and a global quadratic moment correction enforces the discrete total energy constraint at the kinetic level. Unlike Maxwell-Boltzmann-type corrections commonly used in classical kinetic settings, the reconstruction uses a Fermi-Dirac-type form motivated by the model's quantum-statistical structure. The corrected state is incorporated into an ACA SVD representation, allowing the numerical rank to adapt to the phase-space complexity generated by the nonlocal Wigner operator and self-consistent Poisson field. Numerical experiments for the two-stream instability, strong Landau damping, and bump-on tail instability show that the method captures benchmark Wigner-Poisson dynamics for several values of the quantum parameter H, maintains bounded adaptive ranks, and preserves the specified global discrete invariants with conservation errors near machine precision. We also compare this formulation, which uses local density-momentum correction plus global total energy correction, with a related globally conservative formulation for mass, momentum, and energy [8]. The two approaches produce nearly identical phase-space and diagnostic results for the periodic benchmark test considered here, indicating that both correction strategies are compatible with adaptive rank compression for Wigner-Poisson dynamics in the tested 1D1V periodic setting.

Andrew J. Christlieb, Sining Gong, Jing-Mei Qiu et al.

The Wigner-Poisson system is a deterministic phase-space model for quantum kinetic electron dynamics, but high-dimensional simulations are limited by the full 3D3V phase space and the nonlocal Wigner potential. We develop a structure-preserving, sampling-based adaptive-rank solver in hierarchical Tucker format for finite-$H$ regimes in which Wigner-Poisson solutions exhibit exploitable low-rank structure. The central difficulty is that adaptive compression can destroy the Fourier-Hermitian tensor symmetry required for a real inverse velocity transform and can break discrete global conservation laws. We address these issues with a Fourier-Hermitian-symmetry-aware sampling and mapping procedure and a global moment correction enforcing mass, momentum, and self-consistent total energy. Numerical tests for two-stream instability and strong Landau damping in 2D2V and 3D3V show roundoff-level conservation, preservation of the real-valued inverse transform, and approximately linear scaling with respect to the number of grid points per coordinate over the tested rank range. The results demonstrate that long-time 3D3V Wigner-Poisson simulations can be performed without assembling the full phase-space tensor.

Andrew J. Christlieb, Luis Chacon, Sining Gong

We develop an unstaggered, potential-based particle-in-cell method for the nonrelativistic Vlasov-Maxwell system in the Lorenz gauge. The field update is written as a Crank-Nicolson discretization of first-order wave systems for the scalar potential, the vector potential, and their time derivatives. The charge density is not deposited directly; instead, it is advanced from the discrete continuity equation using the current deposited from the particles. This opens up algorithmic flexibility with a range of innovation, including unstaggered mesh layouts that preserve the Lorenz gauge and Gauss's law at the discrete level. In the potential formulation, this source ordering also permits preservation of the Lorenz gauge and Gauss's law at the discrete level. To extend the paradigm to an energy-conserving formulation, we introduce a consistent orbit-averaged scatter, gather, and particle push. For energy consistency, the update of the canonical momentum is modified by replacing the pointwise midpoint derivative of the vector potential with an orbit-averaged discrete gradient of the mesh-interpolated vector potential consistent with the orbit-average maps. This construction satisfies an exact finite-difference chain rule along each particle orbit. As a result, the particle work equals the mesh work appearing in the Crank-Nicolson field-energy balance, yielding exact total-energy conservation up to nonlinear solver tolerance and roundoff. We demonstrate exact energy conservation of the method in 3D on the cold two-stream instability.