Multi-Point Hermite Methods for the N-Body Problem

TL;DR

This paper introduces high-order multi-point Hermite methods for N-body simulations, demonstrating improved accuracy and efficiency over traditional schemes, especially for long-term integrations of complex gravitational systems.

Contribution

It develops a family of high-order multi-point Hermite schemes, generalizing existing methods, and shows their effectiveness in N-body simulations with variable time steps.

Findings

6th-order scheme matches or outperforms 4th-order Hermite

High-order schemes up to 18th order improve long-term accuracy

Methods are computationally efficient with negligible O(N) cost

Abstract

Numerical integration methods are central to the study of self-gravitating systems, particularly those comprised of many bodies or otherwise beyond the reach of analytical methods. Predictor-corrector schemes, both multi-step methods and those based on 2-point Hermite interpolation, have found great success in the simulation of star clusters and other collisional systems. Higher-order methods, such as those based on Gaussian quadratures and Richardson extrapolation, have also proven popular for high-accuracy integrations of few-body systems, particularly those that may undergo close encounters. This work presents a family of high-order schemes based on multi-point Hermite interpolation. When applied as a multi-step multi-derivative schemes, these can be seen as generalizing both Adams-Bashforth-Moulton methods and 2-point Hermite methods; I present results for the 6th-, 9th-, and 12th-order 3-point schemes applied in this manner using variable time steps. In a cluster-like test problem, the 3-point 6th-order predictor-corrector scheme matches or outperforms the standard 2-point 4th-order Hermite scheme at negligible O(N) cost. I also present a number of high-order time-symmetric schemes up to 18th order, which have the potential to improve the accuracy and efficiency of long-duration simulations.