Superconvergence and accuracy enhancement of discontinuous Galerkin solutions for Vlasov-Maxwell equations

Abstract

This paper considers the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) methods for solving the Vlasov-Maxwell (VM) system, a fundamental model for collisionless magnetized plasma. The DG methods provide accurate numerical description with conservation and stability properties. However, to resolve the high dimensional probability distribution function, the computational cost is the main bottleneck even for modern-day supercomputers. This work studies the applicability of a post-processing technique to the DG solution to enhance its accuracy and resolution for the VM system. In particular, we prove the superconvergence of order $(2k+\frac{1}{2})$ in the negative order norm for the probability distribution function and the electromagnetic fields when piecewise polynomial degree $k$ is used. Numerical tests including Landau damping, two-stream instability and streaming Weibel instabilities are considered showing the performance of the post-processor.