Scaling for faster macroparticle simulation in longitudinal multiparticle dynamics

Macroparticle tracking is a direct and attractive approach to following the evolution of a longitudinal phase space distribution. When the particles interact through short-range wake fields or when the interparticle force is included, calculations of this kind require a large number of macroparticles. However, it is possible to reduce both the number of macroparticles required and the number of tracking steps per unit simulated time by employing a simple scaling. It is demonstrated that the Vlasov equation is unchanged by introduction of the scaled quantities. It is further shown that under rather general conditions the speed of calculation improves with the fourth power of the scaling constant. Two examples comparing scaled and original cases illustrate the effectiveness of the approach. Limitations to the amount of rescaling are discussed.