On the Sensitivity of the N-Body Problem to Small Changes in Initial Conditions. III.
Abstract
The effects of increasing the softening parameter, epsilon, in the two body-forces are investigated in order to ascertain the relative importance for this instability of close encounters and the bulk mean field. Consideration is given to both the mean e-folding times for individual particle perturbations and the e-folding times for the total 3N-dimensional configuration space perturbation, which continues to grow exponentially until the typical perturbation of an individual particle becomes comparable to the size of the system. Close encounters and the bulk mean field are both important and apparently reinforce each other: the relatively smooth, systematic tidal force associated with the mean field tends to amplify divergences associated with 'kicks' induced by shorter range effects, which remain important even for large N.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- November 1992
- DOI:
- 10.1086/171954
- Bibcode:
- 1992ApJ...399..627K
- Keywords:
-
- Gravitational Effects;
- Many Body Problem;
- Perturbation Theory;
- Boundary Value Problems;
- Particle Trajectories;
- Systems Stability;
- Physics (General);
- METHODS: NUMERICAL