Simulating Spiral Galaxies

Experiments have shown that two or more magnetized masses of plasma in a vacuum could act upon one another to form a spiral configuration. Magnetic fields or magnetic lines of flux may be responsible for the formation of spirals on solar system bodies such as Jupiter and the sun. Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a vortex approximately 25,000 km across, has an outer edge counterclockwise rotation rate of 6 days with almost no motion at its center. Spiral sunspots may reach diameters of 80,00 km, and may closely resemble a spiral galaxy. Doppler-shifted spectral lines indicate that spiral galaxy arms persist on remaining open despite many tens of complete rotations. To help determine the behavior of these galaxies and the stars within them, random and probability processes are being used. Simulations, also being used, stem from N-body algorithms originally developed 20 years ago, and computers enable extension of calculations to include electromagnetic forces and the motion of particles in three dimensions. Through the use of SPLASH, the forms of spiral galaxies can be studied. Although some confirmation of computer models comes from the comparison of the average rotational velocities of simulated and real galaxies, much work remains to be done in scaling simulation results to the observational data.