Title: Metriplectic Integrators for the Landau Collision Operator,
Abstract: We present a novel framework for addressing the nonlinear Landau collision
integral in terms of finite element and other subspace projection methods. We
employ the underlying metriplectic structure of the Landau collision integral
and, using a Galerkin discretization for the velocity space, we transform the
infinite-dimensional system into a finite-dimensional, time-continuous
metriplectic system. Temporal discretization is accomplished using the concept
of discrete gradients. The conservation of energy, momentum, and particle
densities, as well as the production of entropy is demonstrated algebraically
for the fully discrete system. Due to the generality of our approach, the
conservation properties and the monotonic behavior of entropy are guaranteed
for finite element discretizations in general, independently of the mesh
configuration.