{
  "abstract": "A reduced-order Particle-in-Cell method is introduced for kinetic simulation of otherwise axisymmetric cylindrical plasmas that exhibit azimuthal instabilities. The method spatially decomposes all field quantities into a small number of azimuthal Fourier modes $m=0,...,N_m,\\quad N_m \\ll N_θ$, reducing the costly three-dimensional field solve $\\mathcal{O}(N_zN_rN_θ)$ to a family of decoupled independent two-dimensional problems $\\mathcal{O}((N_m+1)N_zN_r)$ on the meridional plane - one per mode - while particles continue to move in full three-dimensional space. Fields are reconstructed at particle positions by coherent superposition of these modal contributions, preserving complete azimuthal variation at a fraction of the cost of a conventional three-dimensional simulation. For initial validation, the method is tested against two benchmark problems with restricted axial dimension: The diocotron instability of a hollow electron annulus across three geometrically distinct configurations, recovering linear growth rates and eigenpotential structures within 7% of closed-form analytic predictions, and reproducing the non-linear vortex dynamics characteristic of the instability saturation; and a further benchmark against the community-standard Landmark Penning discharge problem recovers the rotating-spoke frequency, radial plasma profiles, and modal energy hierarchy in quantitative agreement with long-time reference simulations, at approximately 640 CPU-hours - a factor of 46 speed-up compared to the median benchmark cost. The approach represents a step toward addressing the important gap between computationally prohibitive full three-dimensional kinetic simulation and the physically limited reduced-dimensionality models on which predictive modelling of anomalous transport in magnetised plasma devices currently relies.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": "Journal reference: Phys. Plasmas 33, 093903 (2026)",
  "arxiv": "2606.04887",
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Shaun Andrews"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6vvebsrevgga1.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2606.04887",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "6vvebsrevgga1",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.04887",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.comp-ph"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.plasm-ph"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2606.04887",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-16",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6vvebsrevgga1.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:22:01Z",
      "native_id": "2606.04887",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.04887"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.comp-ph",
      "subfield": "computational"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.plasm-ph",
      "subfield": "plasma"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A Reduced-Order Particle-in-Cell Method with Azimuthal Fourier-Decomposed Fields for Nominally Axisymmetric Plasmas",
  "title_text": "A Reduced-Order Particle-in-Cell Method with Azimuthal Fourier-Decomposed Fields for Nominally Axisymmetric Plasmas",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:22:01Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6vvebsrevgga1",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": [
    {
      "doi": "10.1063/5.0347124",
      "pid": null,
      "relation": "published-as",
      "title": null,
      "venue": null
    }
  ]
}