Update picmi constants to match the values in PhysConst (#1483)

* Update picmi constants to match the values in PhysConst

* In picmi, use string q_e for charge instead of float with charge_state = +-1

* Updated benchmarks of picmi tests

1 files changed, 12 insertions, 6 deletions

diff --git a/Python/pywarpx/picmi.py b/Python/pywarpx/picmi.py
index 7e7fbd9d4..aaf1ec98d 100644
--- a/Python/pywarpx/picmi.py
+++ b/Python/pywarpx/picmi.py
@@ -21,11 +21,12 @@ class constants:
     # --- Put the constants in their own namespace
     # --- Values from WarpXConst.H
     c = 299792458.
-    ep0 = 8.854187817e-12
-    mu0 = 1.2566370614359173e-06
-    q_e = 1.602176462e-19
-    m_e = 9.10938291e-31
-    m_p = 1.6726231e-27
+    ep0 = 8.8541878128e-12
+    mu0 = 1.25663706212e-06
+    q_e = 1.602176634e-19
+    m_e = 9.1093837015e-31
+    m_p = 1.67262192369e-27
+    hbar = 1.054571817e-34
 
 
 class Species(picmistandard.PICMI_Species):
@@ -45,7 +46,12 @@ class Species(picmistandard.PICMI_Species):
             if self.mass is None: self.mass = 'm_p'
         else:
             if self.charge is None and self.charge_state is not None:
-                self.charge = self.charge_state*constants.q_e
+                if self.charge_state == +1.:
+                    self.charge = 'q_e'
+                elif self.charge_state == -1.:
+                    self.charge = '-q_e'
+                else:
+                    self.charge = self.charge_state*constants.q_e
             # Match a string of the format '#nXx', with the '#n' optional isotope number.
             m = re.match('(?P<iso>#[\d+])*(?P<sym>[A-Za-z]+)', self.particle_type)
             if m is not None: