Grid coupling mechanism in the semi-implicit adaptive Multi-Level Multi-Domain method

The Multi-Level Multi-Domain (MLMD) method is a semi-implicit adaptive method for Particle-In-Cell plasma simulations. It has been demonstrated in the past in simulations of Maxwellian plasmas, electrostatic and electromagnetic instabilities, plasma expansion in vacuum, magnetic reconnection [1, 2, 3]. In multiple occasions, it has been commented on the coupling between the coarse and the refined grid solutions. The coupling mechanism itself, however, has never been explored in depth. Here, we investigate the theoretical bases of grid coupling in the MLMD system. We obtain an evolution law for the electric field solution in the overlap area of the MLMD system which highlights a dependance on the densities and currents from both the coarse and the refined grid, rather than from the coarse grid alone: grid coupling is obtained via densities and currents. (paper)