Skip to content

Lecture Timeline · PHY653

Computational Electromagnetics and Plasma Physics in teaching order — lecture + Jupyter lab each week; the wiki follows the five chapter note-sets.

Chapter Topics Wiki pages
1 · Python & projectiles Why simulate plasmas, Python toolkit, projectile & Rutherford warm-ups Why simulate plasmas? · Lorentz force (eq.) · Rutherford scattering
2 · Time integration Euler/backward/leapfrog/RK, benchmark, convergence ODE framework · Forward Euler · Backward Euler · Leapfrog · Runge–Kutta · Convergence · Integrator arena
3 · Single-particle motion Guiding center, drifts, mirrors, Fermi acceleration, wave fields Guiding center & drifts · E×B (eq.) · ∇B & curvature (eq.) · Magnetic mirror · Fermi acceleration
4 · Field solvers Finite differences, Poisson/Gauss–Seidel, FDTD, double slit Finite differences · Poisson solvers · FDTD · CFL (eq.) · Double slit
5 · Many-particle systems N-body, virial, PIC, two-stream instability N-body · PIC method · Two-stream instability
Later weeks MHD equilibrium & waves, hybrid PIC-MHD, reconnection (see syllabus) theory background: PC368 wiki