This paper develops Runge-Kutta PK -based central discontinuous Galerkin (CDG) methods with WENO limiter for the one- and two-dimensional special relativistic hydrodynamical (RHD) equations, K = 1,2,3. Different from the non-central DG methods, the Runge-Kutta CDG methods have to find two approximate solutions defined on mutually dual meshes. For each mesh, the CDG approximate solutions on its dual mesh are used to calculate the flux values in the cell and on the cell boundary so that the approximate solutions on mutually dual meshes are coupled with each other, and the use of numerical flux will be avoided. The WENO limiter is adaptively implemented via two steps: the “troubled” cells are first identified by using a modified TVB minmod function, and then the WENO technique is used to locally reconstruct new polynomials of degree (2K+1) replacing the CDG solutions inside the “troubled” cells by the cell average values of the CDG solutions in the neighboring cells as well as the original cell averages of the “troubled” cells. Because the WENO limiter is only employed for finite “troubled” cells, the computational cost can be as little as possible. The accuracy of the CDG without the numerical dissipation is analyzed and calculation of the flux integrals over the cells is also addressed. Several test problems in one and two dimensions are solved by using our Runge-Kutta CDG methods with WENO limiter. The computations demonstrate that our methods are stable, accurate, and robust in solving complex RHD problems.

In this paper we consider laser intensities greater than $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}10^{16}\ \mathrm{W\ cm}^{-2}$ where the ablation pressure is negligible in comparison with the radiation pressure. The radiation pressure is caused by the ponderomotive force acting mainly on the electrons that are separated from the ions to create a double layer (DL). This DL is accelerated into the target, like a piston that pushes the matter in such a way that a shock wave is created. Here we discuss two novel ideas. Firstly, the transition domain between the relativistic and non-relativistic laser-induced shock waves. Our solution is based on relativistic hydrodynamics also for the above transition domain. The relativistic shock wave parameters, such as compression, pressure, shock wave and particle flow velocities, sound velocity and rarefaction wave velocity in the compressed target, and temperature are calculated. Secondly, we would like to use this transition domain for shock-wave-induced ultrafast ignition of a pre-compressed target. The laser parameters for these purposes are calculated and the main advantages of this scheme are described. If this scheme is successful a new source of energy in large quantities may become feasible.

A third-order accurate direct Eulerian generalised Riemann problem (GRP) scheme is derived for the one-dimensional special relativistic hydrodynamical equations. In our GRP scheme, the higher-order WENO initial reconstruction is employed, and the local GRPs in the Eulerian formulation are directly and analytically resolved to third-order accuracy via the Riemann invariants and Rankine-Hugoniot jump conditions, to get the approximate states in numerical fluxes. Unlike a previous second-order accurate GRP scheme, for the non-sonic case the limiting values of the second-order time derivatives of the fluid variables at the singular point are also needed for the calculation of the approximate states; while for the sonic case, special attention is paid because the calculation of the second-order time derivatives at the sonic point is difficult. Several numerical examples are given to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of our GRP scheme.

This paper extends the adaptive moving mesh method developed by Tang and Tang [36] to two-dimensional (2D) relativistic hydrodynamic (RHD) equations. The algorithm consists of two “independent” parts: the time evolution of the RHD equations and the (static) mesh iteration redistribution. In the first part, the RHD equations are discretized by using a high resolution finite volume scheme on the fixed but nonuniform meshes without the full characteristic decomposition of the governing equations. The second part is an iterative procedure. In each iteration, the mesh points are first redistributed, and then the cell averages of the conservative variables are remapped onto the new mesh in a conservative way. Several numerical examples are given to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed method.

We present long-term numerical simulations of powerful extragalactic relativistic jets in two dimensions. The jets are injected in a realistic atmosphere with powers 1044, 1045 and 1046 erg/s, during tens of Myrs. After this time, the jet injection is switched off. We follow the evolution of the jets and associated shocks from 1 kpc to hundreds of kiloparsecs during more than 100 Myrs. The 1045 erg/s jet was simulated with leptonic and baryonic composition. Our results show that, for powerful jets, the main heating mechanisms are the driving shock-wave and mixing. We discuss the implications that these results have in the frame of cooling flows in clusters.

Low-frequency, relativistic, subcycle solitary waves are found in two-dimensional and three-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) numerical simulations, as a result of the interaction of ultrashort, high-intensity laser pulses with plasmas. Moreover, nondrifting, subcycle relativistic electromagnetic solitons have been obtained as solutions of the hydrodynamic equations for an electron–ion warm plasma, by assuming the quasi-neutrality character of the plasma response. In addition, the formation of long-living macroscopic soliton-like structures has been experimentally observed by means of the proton imaging diagnostics. Several common features result from these investigations, as, for example, the quasi-neutral plasma response to the soliton radiation, in the long-term evolution of the system, which leads to the almost complete expulsion of the plasma from the region where the electromagnetic radiation is concentrated, even at subrelativistic field intensity. The results of the theoretical investigations are reviewed with special attention to these similarities.