Self-Consistent Spin, Tidal and Dynamical Equations of Motion in the REBOUNDx Framework

TL;DR

This paper integrates self-consistent spin, tidal, and dynamical equations into REBOUNDx, enabling more realistic simulations of complex astrophysical systems beyond point particle models.

Contribution

It introduces a new module in REBOUNDx that incorporates spin and tidal effects derived from the equilibrium tide model, enhancing the simulation capabilities.

Findings

Code successfully reproduces analytic predictions

Benchmark tests demonstrate accurate performance

Open-source implementation available in REBOUNDx

Abstract

We have introduced self-consistent spin, tidal and dynamical equations of motion into REBOUNDx, a library of additional effects for the popular N-body integrator REBOUND. The equations of motion used are derived from the constant time lag approximation to the equilibrium tide model of tidal friction. These effects will allow the study of a variety of systems where the full dynamical picture cannot be encapsulated by point particle dynamics. We provide several test cases and benchmark the code's performance against analytic predictions. The open-source code is available in the most recent release of REBOUNDx.