Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1996-12-09
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Minor text changes and updated reference list. 10 pages including 3 figures, LaTeX with paspconf.sty file included, to appear
Scientific paper
I compare various popular and unpopular techniques for simulating large collisionless stellar systems. I give a quantitative comparison of the raw cpu times required for five separate codes, including tree codes and basis function expansions, which demonstrate that grid codes are most efficient for large numbers of particles. Since efficiency is only one consideration when choosing a code, I discuss other strengths and weaknesses of the various methods. While some applications may require the maximum possible number of particles, I argue that quiet start techniques can often permit reliable results to be obtained with moderate particle numbers. I suggest a quiet start procedure for spherical stellar systems and show that it leads to a significant reduction in the relaxation rate. The combination of efficient codes and quiet starts allows many galactic dynamical problems to be tackled without the need for supercomputers.
No associations
LandOfFree
Galaxy dynamics by N-body simulation does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Galaxy dynamics by N-body simulation, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Galaxy dynamics by N-body simulation will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-633268