space::irbem::PathTraceOptions
cheatah-space v0.1.0-alpha — Biome Standard 0.6.5-alpha
Tuning for the path-returning traces.
Defaults match lstar.hpp's TraceOptions where the two overlap, so a Bmin from find_magequator and a Bmin from trace_invariant are the same number computed on the same grid rather than two resolutions of the same idea.
Constants & variables
The reference surface the trace terminates on, Earth radii — IRBEM's R0.
Values below 1 are legal and meaningful: a drift-loss-cone study wants the line followed below the surface.
Steps per unit L, as TraceOptions::steps_per_l.
ds = L/steps_per_l, with L the start point's dipole L — see lstar.hpp's brief on why the step is proportional to L.
An ABSOLUTE step in Earth radii, overriding steps_per_l when positive.
This is what IRBEM's TRACE_FIELD_LINE_TOWARD_EARTH takes as its ds, and the only reason it exists: a caller who wants uniform sampling for a plot should not have to work backwards from L.
The cap on RK4 steps in ONE direction. Reaching it is Status::OpenFieldLine.
Regula-falsi iterations inside the final step, for every sub-step refinement here.
Eight takes the residual below the fp64 noise of the field evaluation itself; the cost is eight field evaluations against a trace's several hundred.
