it takes an IT department of millions to keep me down 27 February 2008
Posted by DSM in astronomy.trackback
New methods for large dynamic range problems in planetary formation
D.S. McNeil and R.P. Nelson
Modern N-body techniques for planetary dynamics are generally based on symplectic algorithms specially adapted to the Kepler problem. These methods have proven very useful in studying planet formation, but typically require the timestep for all objects to be set to a small fraction of the orbital period of the innermost body. This computational expense can be prohibitive for even moderate particle number for many physically-interesting scenarios, such as recent models of the formation of hot exoplanets, in which the semimajor axis of possible progenitors can vary by orders of magnitude. We present new methods which retain most of the benefits of the standard symplectic integrators but allow for radial zones with distinct timesteps. These approaches should make simulations of planetary accretion with large dynamic range tractable. As proof-of-concept we present preliminary science results from an implementation of the algorithm as applied to an oligarchic migration scenario for forming hot Neptunes.
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The Man tried to bring me down, and destroyed hundreds of gigabytes of my work, but he’ll have to do better than that.. if all goes well I’ll submit the above paper next week and the first science paper in April!
I named the new method Naoko, after the beautiful supermagician Yamada Naoko. But if anyone asks, I’m going to say it stands for New Adaptive Orthochronous Kepler Orbiter..
