Structure-preserving geometric particle-in-cell algorithm suppresses finite-grid instability -- Comment on "Finite grid instability and spectral fidelity of the electrostatic Particle-In-Cell algorithm'' by Huang et al

Abstract

A recent paper by Huang et al. [Computer Physics Communications 207, 123 (2016)] thoroughly analyzed the Finite Grid Instability(FGI) and spectral fidelity of standard Particle-In-Cell (PIC) methods. Numerical experiments were carried out to demonstrate the FGIs for two PIC methods, the energy-conserving algorithm and the momentum-conserving algorithm. The paper also suggested that similar numerical experiments should be performed to test the newly developed Structure-Preserving Geometric (SPG)-PIC algorithm. In this comment, we supply the results of the suggested numerical experiments, which show that the SPG-PIC algorithm is able to suppress the FGI.