Numerical modelling of the two-dimensional Fourier transformed Vlasov–Maxwell system

The two-dimensional Vlasov–Maxwell system, for a plasma with mobile, magnetised electrons and ions, is investigated numerically. A previously developed method for solving the two-dimensional electrostatic Vlasov equation, Fourier transformed in velocity space, for mobile electrons and with ions fixed in space, is generalised to the fully electromagnetic, two-dimensional Vlasov–Maxwell system for mobile electrons and ions. Special attention is paid to the conservation of the divergences of the electric and magnetic fields in the Maxwell equations. The Maxwell equations are rewritten, by means of the Lorentz potentials, in a form which conserves these divergences. Linear phenomena are investigated numerically and compared with theory and with previous numerical results.