Related papers: On the probabilistic approach to the N-body proble…
The relation between the results of cosmological N-body simulations, and the continuum theoretical models they simulate, is currently not understood in a way which allows a quantification of N dependent effects. In this first of a series of…
This paper describes a method for quantitatively comparing an N-body model with a sample of discrete kinematic data. The comparison has two stages: (i) finding the optimum scaling and orientation of the model relative to the data; and (ii)…
A new class of solvable $N$-body problems is identified. They describe $N$ unit-mass point particles whose time-evolution, generally taking place in the complex plane, is characterized by Newtonian equations of motion "of goldfish type"…
The general consensus in the N-body community is that statistical results of an ensemble of collisional N-body simulations are accurate, even though individual simulations are not. A way to test this hypothesis is to make a direct…
Astrophysical Challenges which demand the solution of the one million (or more) gravitating body problem are briefly discussed for the fields of cosmology, galactic nuclei and globular star clusters. Results from the classical three-body…
We quantitatively study the probability distribution function (PDF) of cosmological nonlinear density fluctuations from N-body simulations with Gaussian initial condition. In particular, we examine the validity and limitations of one-point…
Calculating one-body density profiles in equilibrium via particle-based simulation methods involves counting of events of particle occurrences at (histogram-resolved) space points. Here we investigate an alternative method based on a…
A criterion for the choice of optimal softening length $\epsilon$ and time-step $dt$ for $N$-body simulations of a collisionless stellar system is analyzed. Plummer and Hernquist spheres are used as models to follow how changes in various…
One of the oldest problems in physics is that of calculating the motion of $N$ particles under a specified mutual force: the $N$-body problem. Much is known about this problem if the specified force is non-relativistic gravity, and…
Difficulties in founding microscopically the Vlasov equation for Coulomb-interacting particles are recalled for both the statistical approach (BBGKY hierarchy and Liouville equation on phase space) and the dynamical approach (single…
In this paper, we study the chaotic four-body problem in Newtonian gravity. Assuming point particles and total encounter energies $\le$ 0, the problem has three possible outcomes. We describe each outcome as a series of discrete…
Within a cosmological context, we study the behaviour of collisionless particles in the weak field approximation to General Relativity, allowing for large gradients of the fields and relativistic velocities for the particles. We consider a…
The large-scale statistics of observables such as the galaxy density are chiefly determined by their dependence on the local coarse-grained matter density. This dependence can be measured directly and efficiently in N-body simulations by…
This paper summarises a number of new, potentially significant, results, obtained recently by the author and his collaborators, which impact on various issues related to the gravitational N-body problem, both Newtonianly and in the context…
Computer experiments are becoming increasingly important in scientific investigations. In the presence of uncertainty, analysts employ probabilistic sensitivity methods to identify the key-drivers of change in the quantities of interest.…
The effects of discreteness arising from the use of the N-body method on the accuracy of simulations of cosmological structure formation are not currently well understood. After a discussion of how the relevant discretisation parameters…
We show that any non-relativistic quantum N-body dynamics problem with pairwise interactions can be exactly reformulated in terms of N well behaved 1-body stochastic density equations. Specifically, the time evolving N-body density matrix…
Cosmological N-body simulations are done on massively parallel computers. This necessitates the use of simple time integrators, and, additionally, of mesh-grid approximations of the potentials. Recently, Adamek et al. (2015);…
The gravitationally-driven evolution of cold dark matter dominates the formation of structure in the Universe over a wide range of length scales. While the longest scales can be treated by perturbation theory, a fully quantitative…
Consider a system of N identical hard spherical particles moving in a d-dimensional box and undergoing elastic, possibly multi-particle, collisions. We develop a new algorithm that recovers the pre-collision state from the post-collision…