1+ # What is NEXT?
2+
3+ NEXT is a new simulation engine written from scratch
4+ NEXT uses **pure Newtonian Gravity**,
5+ However, NEXT is still young so that it isn't guaranteed it'll stay that.
6+ **Hydrodynamics, Dark Matter, or Radiation** might show up later.
7+
8+ ## How does NEXT preserve stability?
9+
10+ NEXT uses a **Barnes-Hut Octree** with **Higher-Order Multipoles** such as the following: dipole, quadrupole, etc.
11+ This means that far-away groups aren't treated as just "one lump" but NEXT contributes their
12+ **Shape and Mass distribution**.
13+
14+ In practice, this gives
15+ - *Much lower force errors than monopole Barnes-Hut*
16+ - **Better Hamiltonian system stability**
17+ - **Better Long-Term Stability**
18+ - **Cleaner Energy Preservation**
19+ - **More Reliable galaxy cluster interactions**
20+
21+ With Higher-Order-Multipole you can also
22+ trade accuracy for speed:
23+ tighter opening angle = more accuracy
24+ looser opening angle = more speed.
25+
26+ ## What can you simulate?
27+
28+ Anything that's mostly gravity:
29+ - Hamiltonian Systems
30+ - Star Clusters
31+ - Galaxy Interactions
32+ - Tidal Stream simulations
33+ - General N-Body
34+
35+ If you need gas, cooling, dark-matter -
36+ NEXT doesn't have that yet.
37+
38+ NEXT has no weird unit systems, and it depends on the G parameter (1.0 by default)
39+
40+ ## Stability and Integrator
41+
42+ NEXT uses a standard **Kick-Drift-Kick Leapfrog Integrator**.
43+ NEXT uses the KDK leapfrog because:
44+ - It's simple to implement
45+ - It's Symplectic
46+ - Leapfrog is 2nd-order
47+
48+ Stability: NEXT uses an adaptive timestep and softening the adaptive timestep can be from 1% to 100% of the one set by the user.
49+ The softening is calculated from how close particles are to each other.
0 commit comments