High Order Particle Transportfor PIC Simulations of Plasma FlowsA thesis accepted by the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and Geodesy of theUniversität Stuttgart in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree ofDoctor of Engineering Sciences (Dr.-Ing.)byMartin Quandtborn in Berlinmain referee : Prof. Dr. Claus-Dieter Munzco-referee : Prof. Dr. Sabine RollerDate of defence : 22.09.2010Institut of Aerodynamics and GasdynamicsUniversität Stuttgart2010Für Meta, Magret, Willi Karl-Otto, Werner,Ingeborg und Klaus-Werner.PrefaceThis thesis was developed during my work as scientific employee at the Institutfür Aerodynamik und Gasdynamik (IAG) of the Universität Stuttgart.Many thanks to my doctoral supervisor Prof. Dr. Claus-Dieter Munz for theexceptionalworkingconditionsinhisresearchgroup,especiallyforallthescientificfreedom I was granted under his supervision. My best thanks to Dr. RudolfSchneider from the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe for his patient support in thefield of plasma physics and his valuable linguistic suggestions.The work was financed by the Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg from October2004 to November 2006 and I also wish to thank Prof. Dr. Claus-Dieter Munzand the Institut für Aerodynamik und Gasdynamik for financial support in theyears up to 2009.Many thanks also to all my colleagues at IAG for the good working atmosphereand all the fruitful scientific discussions they had with me in the last three years.