777 research outputs found
A minimal-variable symplectic integrator on spheres
We construct a symplectic, globally defined, minimal-coordinate, equivariant
integrator on products of 2-spheres. Examples of corresponding Hamiltonian
systems, called spin systems, include the reduced free rigid body, the motion
of point vortices on a sphere, and the classical Heisenberg spin chain, a
spatial discretisation of the Landau-Lifschitz equation. The existence of such
an integrator is remarkable, as the sphere is neither a vector space, nor a
cotangent bundle, has no global coordinate chart, and its symplectic form is
not even exact. Moreover, the formulation of the integrator is very simple, and
resembles the geodesic midpoint method, although the latter is not symplectic
Symplectic integrators with adaptive time steps
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 into two categories. In the first, the time step is considered a
function of time alone, \Delta=\Delta(t). In this case, backwards error
analysis shows that while the algorithms remain symplectic, parametric
instabilities arise because of resonance between oscillations of \Delta(t) and
the orbital motion. In the second category the time step is a function of phase
space variables \Delta=\Delta(q,p). In this case, the system of equations to be
solved is analyzed by introducing a new time variable \tau with dt=\Delta(q,p)
d\tau. The transformed equations are no longer in Hamiltonian form, and thus
are not guaranteed to be stable even when integrated using a method which is
symplectic for constant \Delta. We analyze two methods for integrating the
transformed equations which do, however, preserve the structure of the original
equations. The first is an extended phase space method, which has been
successfully used in previous studies of adaptive time step symplectic
integrators. The second, novel, method is based on a non-canonical
mixed-variable generating function. Numerical trials for both of these methods
show good results, without parametric instabilities or spurious growth or
damping. It is then shown how to adapt the time step to an error estimate found
by backward error analysis, in order to optimize the time-stepping scheme.
Numerical results are obtained using this formulation and compared with other
time-stepping schemes for the extended phase space symplectic method.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Plasma Phys. Control. Fusio
Splitting and composition methods in the numerical integration of differential equations
We provide a comprehensive survey of splitting and composition methods for
the numerical integration of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Splitting
methods constitute an appropriate choice when the vector field associated with
the ODE can be decomposed into several pieces and each of them is integrable.
This class of integrators are explicit, simple to implement and preserve
structural properties of the system. In consequence, they are specially useful
in geometric numerical integration. In addition, the numerical solution
obtained by splitting schemes can be seen as the exact solution to a perturbed
system of ODEs possessing the same geometric properties as the original system.
This backward error interpretation has direct implications for the qualitative
behavior of the numerical solution as well as for the error propagation along
time. Closely connected with splitting integrators are composition methods. We
analyze the order conditions required by a method to achieve a given order and
summarize the different families of schemes one can find in the literature.
Finally, we illustrate the main features of splitting and composition methods
on several numerical examples arising from applications.Comment: Review paper; 56 pages, 6 figures, 8 table
Geometric, Variational Integrators for Computer Animation
We present a general-purpose numerical scheme for time integration of Lagrangian dynamical systems—an important
computational tool at the core of most physics-based animation techniques. Several features make this
particular time integrator highly desirable for computer animation: it numerically preserves important invariants,
such as linear and angular momenta; the symplectic nature of the integrator also guarantees a correct energy
behavior, even when dissipation and external forces are added; holonomic constraints can also be enforced quite
simply; finally, our simple methodology allows for the design of high-order accurate schemes if needed. Two key
properties set the method apart from earlier approaches. First, the nonlinear equations that must be solved during
an update step are replaced by a minimization of a novel functional, speeding up time stepping by more than a
factor of two in practice. Second, the formulation introduces additional variables that provide key flexibility in the
implementation of the method. These properties are achieved using a discrete form of a general variational principle
called the Pontryagin-Hamilton principle, expressing time integration in a geometric manner. We demonstrate
the applicability of our integrators to the simulation of non-linear elasticity with implementation details
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
An Overview of Variational Integrators
The purpose of this paper is to survey some recent advances in variational
integrators for both finite dimensional mechanical systems as well as continuum
mechanics. These advances include the general development of discrete
mechanics, applications to dissipative systems, collisions, spacetime integration algorithms,
AVI’s (Asynchronous Variational Integrators), as well as reduction for
discrete mechanical systems. To keep the article within the set limits, we will only
treat each topic briefly and will not attempt to develop any particular topic in
any depth. We hope, nonetheless, that this paper serves as a useful guide to the
literature as well as to future directions and open problems in the subject
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