Evolution of simple phase space distributions using the Vlasov equation

VLASOV is a code for Macintosh computers that follows the time evolution of charged‐particle phase‐space density functions in planar, cylindrically or spherically symmetric geometries. The Vlasov one‐dimensional differential equation in radial coordinates is used to propagate different initial space‐charge dominated beams in free space or in a linear focusing channel. Color plots of the marginal densities are displayed on the video monitor at selected time intervals. Time dependent moments of the distribution are written to a file for off‐line analysis.