Computational Methods in Plasma Physics

Stephen Jardin is a Principal Research Physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, where he is head of the Theoretical Magnetohydrodynamics Division and co-head of the Computational Plasma Physics Group. He is also a professor in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University and Director and Principal Investigator of the SciDAC Center for Extended Magnetohydrodynamic Modeling. Dr. Jardin is the primary developer of several widely used fusion plasma simulation codes and is currently a U.S. member of the International Tokamak Physics Activity that advises the physics staff of ITER, the world's largest fusion experiment.

This book provides a comprehensive and self-contained introduction to the computational methods used in plasma physics. The author successfully familiarizes readers with the basic concepts of numerical methods for partial differential equations and conjoins these methods with the magnetohydrodynamic equations that are used in plasma physics. … The extensive treatment of the material, the problems in each chapter, and the accurate topic presentation in this book make it an appropriate textbook for graduate students in physics and engineering with no prior knowledge of plasma physics or numerical mathematics. … great textbook on a highly complex scientific subject. I highly recommend this book …—Computing Reviews, January 2011

• Introduction to Magnetohydrodynamic Equations. Introduction to Finite Difference Equations. Finite Difference Methods for Elliptic Equations. Plasma Equilibrium. Magnetic Flux Coordinates in a Torus. Diffusion and Transport in Axisymmetric Geometry. Numerical Methods for Parabolic Equations. Methods of Ideal MHD Stability Analysis. Numerical Methods for Hyperbolic Equations. Spectral Methods for Initial Value Problems. The Finite Element Method. Bibliography. Index.