Synonyms
Definition
N-body computation refers to a class of simulation methods that model the behavior of a physical system using a set of discrete entities (e.g., atoms, astrophysical bodies, etc.) and a set of interactions among them (coupling potentials). These simulations are typically time dependent. In each timestep, attributes of the discrete entities are updated (typically force, acceleration, velocity, and position), and the process is repeated, to study spatiotemporal evolution of the system.
Discussion
Introduction
Many interesting physical problems can be modeled as the time-evolution of a set of interacting, classical objects (assumed to be point masses). The behavior of these particles is governed by Newton’s second law. A series of seminal efforts by, among other notables, Newton, Euler, Lagrange, Hamilton, Delaunay, and Sundman demonstrated the difficulty of analitically solving the problem for systems comprised of more than two...
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Grama, A.Y., Fogarty, J., Aktulga, H., Pandit, S. (2011). N-Body Computational Methods. In: Padua, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Parallel Computing. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09766-4_97
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09766-4_97
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