Discretization of Maxwell-vlasov equations based on discrete exterior calculus

We discuss the discretization of Maxwell-Vlasov equations based on a discrete exterior calculus framework, which provides a natural factorization of the discrete field equations into topological (metric-free) and metric-dependent parts. This enables a gain in geometrical flexibility when dealing with general grids and also the ab initio, exact preservation of conservation laws through discrete analogues. In particular, we describe a particle-in-cell (PIC) implementation of time-dependent discrete Maxwell-Vlasov equations, whereby the electromagnetic field are discretized using Whitney forms and coupled to particle dynamics by means of a gather-scatter scheme that yields exact charge-conservation on general grids. Numerical examples of PIC simulations such as vacuum diode and backward-wave oscillator are used to illustrate the approach.