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# What is NEXT?
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NEXT is a new simulation engine written from scratch
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NEXT uses **pure Newtonian Gravity**,
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However, NEXT is still young so that it isn't guaranteed it'll stay that.
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**Hydrodynamics, Dark Matter, or Radiation** might show up later.
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## How does NEXT preserve stability?
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NEXT uses a **Barnes-Hut Octree** with **Higher-Order Multipoles** such as the following: dipole, quadrupole, etc.
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This means that far-away groups aren't treated as just "one lump" but NEXT contributes their
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**Shape and Mass distribution**.
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In practice, this gives
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- *Much lower force errors than monopole Barnes-Hut*
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- **Better Hamiltonian system stability**
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- **Better Long-Term Stability**
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- **Cleaner Energy Preservation**
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- **More Reliable galaxy cluster interactions**
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With Higher-Order-Multipole you can also
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trade accuracy for speed:
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tighter opening angle = more accuracy
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looser opening angle = more speed.
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## What can you simulate?
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Anything that's mostly gravity:
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- Hamiltonian Systems
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- Star Clusters
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- Galaxy Interactions
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- Tidal Stream simulations
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- General N-Body
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If you need gas, cooling, dark-matter -
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NEXT doesn't have that yet.
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NEXT has no weird unit systems, and it depends on the G parameter (1.0 by default)
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## Stability and Integrator
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NEXT uses a standard **Kick-Drift-Kick Leapfrog Integrator**.
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NEXT uses the KDK leapfrog because:
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- It's simple to implement
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- It's Symplectic
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- Leapfrog is 2nd-order
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Stability: NEXT uses an adaptive timestep and softening the adaptive timestep can be from 1% to 100% of the one set by the user.
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The softening is calculated from how close particles are to each other.

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