Related papers: Time-symmetric integration in astrophysics
In recent decades, there have been many attempts to construct symplectic integrators with variable time steps, with rather disappointing results. In this paper we identify the causes for this lack of performance, and find that they fall…
Symplectic integration algorithms are well-suited for long-term integrations of Hamiltonian systems because they preserve the geometric structure of the Hamiltonian flow. However, this desirable property is generally lost when adaptive…
Symplectic integration algorithms have become popular in recent years in long-term orbital integrations because these algorithms enforce certain conservation laws that are intrinsic to Hamiltonian systems. For problems with large variations…
We present a simple algorithm to switch between $N$-body time integrators in a reversible way. We apply it to planetary systems undergoing arbitrarily close encounters and highly eccentric orbits, but the potential applications are broader.…
Computational efficiency demands discretised, hierarchically organised, and individually adaptive time-step sizes (known as the block-step scheme) for the time integration of N-body models. However, most existing N-body codes adapt…
It has previously been shown that varying the numerical timestep during a symplectic orbital integration leads to a random walk in energy and angular momentum, destroying the phase space-conserving property of symplectic integrators. Here…
Leapfrog integration has been the method of choice in N-body simulations owing to its low computational cost for a symplectic integrator with second order accuracy. We introduce a new leapfrog integrator that allows for variable timesteps…
By combining a standard symmetric, symplectic integrator with a new step size controller, we provide an integration scheme that is symmetric, reversible and conserves the values of the constants of motion. This new scheme is appropriate for…
Time-symmetric integration schemes share with symplectic schemes the property that their energy errors show a much better behavior than is the case for generic integration schemes. Allowing adaptive time steps typically leads to a loss of…
A fixed time-step variational integrator cannot preserve momentum, energy, and symplectic form simultaneously for nonintegrable systems. This barrier can be overcome by treating time as a discrete dynamic variable and deriving adaptive…
We show that when time-reversible symplectic algorithms are used to solve periodic motions, the energy error after one period is generally two orders higher than that of the algorithm. By use of correctable algorithms, we show that the…
Symplectic integrators are widely used for long-term integration of conservative astrophysical problems due to their ability to preserve the constants of motion; however, they cannot in general be applied in the presence of nonconservative…
Symplectic integrators are the preferred method of solving conservative $N$-body problems in cosmological, stellar cluster, and planetary system simulations because of their superior error properties and ability to compute orbital…
We present new almost time-reversible integrators for solution of planetary systems consisting of "planets" and a dominant mass ("star"). The algorithms can be considered adaptive generalizations of the Wisdom--Holman method, in which all…
Explicit symplectic integrators have been important tools for accurate and efficient approximations of mechanical systems with separable Hamiltonians. For the first time, the article proposes for arbitrary Hamiltonians similar integrators,…
We present a new symplectic integrator designed for collisional gravitational $N$-body problems which makes use of Kepler solvers. The integrator is also reversible and conserves 9 integrals of motion of the $N$-body problem to machine…
Many problems in astrophysics cover multiple orders of magnitude in spatial and temporal scales. While simulating systems that experience rapid changes in these conditions, it is essential to adapt the (time-) step size to capture the…
The evolution of any factorized time-reversible symplectic integrators, when applied to the harmonic oscillator, can be exactly solved in a closed form. The resulting modified Hamiltonians demonstrate the convergence of the Lie series…
Recently, our group developed explicit symplectic methods for curved spacetimes that are not split into several explicitly integrable parts, but are via appropriate time transformations. Such time-transformed explicit symplectic integrators…
Symplectic integrators evolve dynamical systems according to modified Hamiltonians whose error terms are also well-defined Hamiltonians. The error of the algorithm is the sum of each error Hamiltonian's perturbation on the exact solution.…