Our focus is on simulating the dynamics of noninteracting particles including the
effects of an external potential, which, under certain assumptions, can be formally
described by the Dean–Kawasaki equation. The Dean–Kawasaki equation can be
solved numerically using standard finite volume methods. However, the numerical
approximation implicitly requires a sufficiently large number of particles to ensure
the positivity of the solution and accurate approximation of the stochastic
flux. To address this challenge, we extend hybrid algorithms for particle
systems to scenarios where the density is low. The aim is to create a hybrid
algorithm that switches from a finite volume discretization to a particle-based
method when the particle density falls below a certain threshold. We develop
criteria for determining this threshold by comparing higher-order statistics
obtained from the finite volume method with particle simulations. We then
demonstrate the use of the resulting criteria for dynamic adaptation in both
two- and three-dimensional spatial settings in the absence of an external
potential. Finally we consider the dynamics when an external potential is
included.