7,320 research outputs found
Exactly Conservative Integrators
Traditional numerical discretizations of conservative systems generically
yield an artificial secular drift of any nonlinear invariants. In this work we
present an explicit nontraditional algorithm that exactly conserves these
invariants. We illustrate the general method by applying it to the three-wave
truncation of the Euler equations, the Lotka--Volterra predator--prey model,
and the Kepler problem. This method is discussed in the context of symplectic
(phase space conserving) integration methods as well as nonsymplectic
conservative methods. We comment on the application of our method to general
conservative systems.Comment: 30 pages, postscript (1.3MB). Submitted to SIAM J. Sci. Comput
Numerical Solution of ODEs and the Columbus' Egg: Three Simple Ideas for Three Difficult Problems
On computers, discrete problems are solved instead of continuous ones. One
must be sure that the solutions of the former problems, obtained in real time
(i.e., when the stepsize h is not infinitesimal) are good approximations of the
solutions of the latter ones. However, since the discrete world is much richer
than the continuous one (the latter being a limit case of the former), the
classical definitions and techniques, devised to analyze the behaviors of
continuous problems, are often insufficient to handle the discrete case, and
new specific tools are needed. Often, the insistence in following a path
already traced in the continuous setting, has caused waste of time and efforts,
whereas new specific tools have solved the problems both more easily and
elegantly. In this paper we survey three of the main difficulties encountered
in the numerical solutions of ODEs, along with the novel solutions proposed.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures (typos fixed
An Exactly Conservative Integrator for the n-Body Problem
The two-dimensional n-body problem of classical mechanics is a non-integrable
Hamiltonian system for n > 2. Traditional numerical integration algorithms,
which are polynomials in the time step, typically lead to systematic drifts in
the computed value of the total energy and angular momentum. Even symplectic
integration schemes exactly conserve only an approximate Hamiltonian. We
present an algorithm that conserves the true Hamiltonian and the total angular
momentum to machine precision. It is derived by applying conventional
discretizations in a new space obtained by transformation of the dependent
variables. We develop the method first for the restricted circular three-body
problem, then for the general two-dimensional three-body problem, and finally
for the planar n-body problem. Jacobi coordinates are used to reduce the
two-dimensional n-body problem to an (n-1)-body problem that incorporates the
constant linear momentum and center of mass constraints. For a four-body
choreography, we find that a larger time step can be used with our conservative
algorithm than with symplectic and conventional integrators.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures; to appear in J. Phys. A.: Math. Ge
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