Existence of formal integrals of symplectic integrators

A recurrent method of solving the formal integrals of symplectic integrators is given. The special examples show that there are no long-term variations in all integrals of the Hamiltonian system in addition to the energy one when symplectic integrators are used in the numerical studies of the system. As an application of the formal integrals, the relation between them and the linear stability of symplectic integrators is discussed.     

Global applicability of the symplectic integrator method of hamiltonian systems

The global validity of the symplectic integration method or mapping approach is discussed in this paper. The results show that in the regions of phase space where symplectic integration schemes and the Hamiltonian system possess the same topology, they are effective; but in the regions where the schemes possess some other fixed points than those of the Hamiltonian system, their topologies are different from that of the actual system, thus the symplectic integration method or mapping approach is not effective globally.Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and a grant from the Ph.D. Foundation.     

Recent progress in the theory and application of symplectic integrators

In this paper various aspect of symplectic integrators are reviewed. Symplectic integrators are numerical integration methods for Hamiltonian systems which are designed to conserve the symplectic structure exactly as the original flow. There are explicit symplectic schemes for systems of the formH=T(p)+V(q), and implicit schemes for general Hamiltonian systems. As a general property, symplectic integrators conserve the energy quite well and therefore an artificial damping (excitation) caused by the accumulation of the local truncation error cannot occur. Symplectic integrators have been applied to the Kepler problem, the motion of minor bodies in the solar system and the long-term evolution of outer planets.     

Numerical experiments on the efficiency of second-order mixed-variable symplectic integrators for N-body problems

We discuss the efficiency of the so-called mixed-variable symplectic integrators for N-body problems. By performing numerical experiments, we first show that the evolution of the mean error in action-like variables is strongly dependent on the initial configuration of the system. Then we study the effect of changing the stepsize when dealing with problems including close encounters between a particle and a planet. Considering a previous study of the slow encounter between comet P/Oterma and Jupiter, we show that the overall orbital patterns can be reproduced, but this depends on the chosen value of the maximum integration stepsize. Moreover the Jacobi constant in a restricted three-body problem is not conserved anymore when the stepsize is changed frequently: over a 10⁵ year time span, to keep a relative error in this integral of motion of the same order as that given by a Bulirsch-Stoer integrator requires a very small integration stepsize and much more computing time. However, an integration of a sample including 10⁴ particles close to Neptune shows that the distributions of the variation of the elements over one orbital period of the particles obtained by the Bulirsch-Stoer integrator and the symplectic integrator up to a certain integration stepsize are rather similar. Therefore, mixed-variable symplectic integrators are efficient either for N-body problems which do not include close encounters or for statistical investigations on a big sample of particles.     

A pseudo third order symplectic integrator

The symplectic integrator has been regarded as one of the optimal tools for research on qualitative secular evolution of Hamiltonian systems in solar system dynamics. An integrable and separate Hamiltonian system H = H₀ + Σ_i=1^N ε_iH_i (ε_i ≪ 1) forms a pseudo third order symplectic integrator, whose accuracy is approximately equal to that of the first order corrector of the Wisdom-Holman second order symplectic integrator or that of the Forest-Ruth fourth order symplectic integrator. In addition, the symplectic algorithm with force gradients is also suited to the treatment of the Hamiltonian system H = H₀(q,p) + εH₁(q), with accuracy better than that of the original symplectic integrator but not superior to that of the corresponding pseudo higher order symplectic integrator.     

Symplectic integrators with adaptive timestep applied to spinning compact binaries

This paper deals mainly with the application of the mixed leapfrog symplectic integrators with adaptive timestep to a conservative post-Newtonian Hamiltonian formulation with canonical spins for spinning compact binaries. The adaptive timestep depends on the two body separation r and the magnitude of the spins. Various numerical tests including a chaotic high-eccentricity orbit show that the fixed step symplectic integrators lost drastically the good long term behaviour in the test cases with large eccentricity, the adaptive timestep integrator is always superior to the constant step in the integral precision.     

Comparing maps to symplectic integrators in a galactic type Hamiltonian

We obtain thex - p _xPoincare phase plane for a two dimensional, resonant, galactic type Hamiltonian using conventional numerical integration, a second order symplectic integrator and a map based on the averaged Hamiltonian. It is found that all three methods give good results, for small values of the perturbation parameter, while the symplectic integrator does a better job than the mapping, for large perturbations. The dynamical spectra are used to distinguish between regular and chaotic motion.     

辛方法的校正公式

1996年Wisdom等提出了对辛方法进行校正的概念和实践，现在继续对辛校正进行详尽讨论和数值比较，尤其对哈密顿函数可分解为一个主要部分和多个次要部分的一般情形，用Lie级数推导任意阶的各种辛算法的一次和二次辛校正公式并对一些算法给出具体的辛校正公式。又以日、木、土三体问题为模型进行数值实验，结果表明一次辛校正能提高精度，改善数值稳定性。计算效率也比较高，因而值得推荐使用，辛方法通常用大步长数值积分，这时二次辛校正并没有显著提高结果的精度，却大大增加了计算时间，不应予以推荐。     

带电测试粒子在磁化史瓦西黑洞中的混沌运动

当史瓦西黑洞周围存在渐近均匀的外部磁场时, 描述带电粒子在史瓦西黑洞附近运动的哈密顿系统会变为不可积系统. 类似于这样的相对论哈密顿系统不存在有显式分析解的2部分分离形式, 给显式辛算法的构建和应用带来困难. 近一年以来的系列工作提出将相对论哈密顿系统分解为具有显式分析解的2个以上分离部分形式, 成功解决了许多相对论时空构建显式辛算法的难题. 最近的工作回答了哈密顿系统显式可积分离数目对长期数值积分精度有何影响、哪种显式辛算法有最佳长期数值性能这两个问题, 指出哈密顿有最小可积分离数目即3部分分裂解形式并且应用于优化的4阶分段龙格库塔显式辛算法可取得最好精度. 由此选择上述数值积分方法并利用庞加莱截面、最大李雅普诺夫指数和快速李雅普诺夫指标研究在磁化史瓦西黑洞附近运动的带电粒子轨道动力学. 结果显示: 针对某特定的粒子能量和角动量, 较小的外部磁场很难形成混沌轨道; 较大的正磁场参数容易使轨道产生混沌, 并且随着磁场的增大, 轨道的混沌程度也随之加强; 粒子能量适当变大也可以加剧混沌程度, 但负磁场参数和粒子角动量变大都会减弱混沌.     

Explicit adaptive symplectic integrators for solving Hamiltonian systems

We consider Sundman and Poincaré transformations for the long-time numerical integration of Hamiltonian systems whose evolution occurs at different time scales. The transformed systems are numerically integrated using explicit symplectic methods. The schemes we consider are explicit symplectic methods with adaptive time steps and they generalise other methods from the literature, while exhibiting a high performance. The Sundman transformation can also be used on non-Hamiltonian systems while the Poincaré transformation can be used, in some cases, with more efficient symplectic integrators. The performance of both transformations with different symplectic methods is analysed on several numerical examples.     

辛算法在动力天文中的应用（Ⅲ）

文［１］和文［２］从哈密顿系统的整体结构保持一角度阐明了辛算法［３－６］的主要功能，本文将从定量的角度进一步表明辛算法的另一独特优点－可以控制天体运动沿迹误差的快速增长，并对可分离哈密顿系统的显式辛差分格式稍加改进，推广应用到一般动力系统，该系统含有小耗散项或小的不可分离项，计算结果表明，效果极佳，因此，辛算法与传统的数值解法相比，确有很多优点。     

Is the third integral a function of the Hamiltonian?

Numerical evidence is presented which indicates that, although the third integral is tangent to the Hamiltonian (energy integral) along some periodic orbits (as has been shown by Goudas), it is not tangent to it along non-periodic orbits; therefore it is not a function of the Hamiltonian. The set of periodic orbits is probably dense in general, but a given form of the third integral is valid in the neighbourhood of a limited number of them; no form of the third integral is valid for all periodic orbits, except in integrable cases.     

The symplectic character of periodic orbits in the three dipole problem

In this work we reveal for the first time that in the three dipole problem only asymmetric periodic orbits exist.For these periodic orbits — planar and three dimensional — of a charged particle moving under the influence of the electromagnetic field of the three dipoles we give their symplectic relations using the Hamiltonian formulation which is related to the symplectic matrix. Also we study the properties of the symplectic matrix and we give the relations there are among the variations of a periodic solution. These relations have been used to check the accuracy of numerical integration of equations of first order variations.     

Explicit Symplectic Algorithms For Time‐Transformed Hamiltonians

By Hamiltonian manipulation we demonstrate the existence of separable time‐transformed Hamiltonians in the extended phase‐space. Due to separability explicit symplectic methods are available for the solution of the equations of motion. If the simple leapfrog integrator is used, in case of two‐body motion, the method produces an exact Keplerian ellipse in which only the time‐coordinate has an error. Numerical tests show that even the rectilinear N‐body problem is feasible using only the leapfrog integrator. In practical terms the method cannot compete with regularized codes, but may provide new directions for studies of symplectic N‐body integration. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Nekhoroshev estimate for isochronous non resonant symplectic maps

We prove that non resonant isochronous symplectic maps in a neighborhood of an elliptic fixed point are stable for exponentially long times with the inverse of the distance from the fixed point. In the proof we make use of the majorant series method together with an idea for optimizing remainder estimates first applied to Hamiltonian problems by Nekhoroshev.     

Perturbations des systèmes différentiels et résultats de géométrie différentielle

We use classical definitions and results of differential geometry in studying properties of transformations depending on a small parameter, acting on differential systems. Hori's and Deprit's algorithms can be defined for these systems. A lemma is given to show these algorithms are equivalent. The so-called property of covariance is merely established. The canonical systems are then considered as associated with Hamiltonian vectorfields on symplectic manifolds. The property that the infinitesimal generator of a canonical transformation is an Hamiltonian vectorfield permits to establish separately the generality of Hori's and Deprit's algorithms. We suggest that the Hamiltonian vectorfield property can be extended to the generators of transformations depending on several parameters.     

New adaptive time step symplectic integrator:an application to the elliptic restricted three-body problem

The time-transformed leapfrog scheme of Mikkola Aarseth was specifically designed for a second-order differential equation with two individually separable forms of positions and velocities.It can have good numerical accuracy for extremely close two-body encounters in gravitating few-body systems with large mass ratios,but the non-time-transformed one does not work well.Following this idea,we develop a new explicit symplectic integrator with an adaptive time step that can be applied to a time-dependent Hamiltonian.Our method relies on a time step function having two distinct but equivalent forms and on the inclusion of two pairs of new canonical conjugate variables in the extended phase space.In addition,the Hamiltonian must be modified to be a new time-transformed Hamiltonian with three integrable parts.When this method is applied to the elliptic restricted three-body problem,its numerical precision is explicitly higher by several orders of magnitude than the nonadaptive one's,and its numerical stability is also better.In particular,it can eliminate the overestimation of Lyapunov exponents and suppress the spurious rapid growth of fast Lyapunov indicators for high-eccentricity orbits of a massless third body.The present technique will be useful for conservative systems including N-body problems in the Jacobian coordinates in the the field of solar system dynamics,and nonconservative systems such as a time-dependent barred galaxy model in a rotating coordinate system.     

On the Numerical Stability of Some Symplectic Integrators

In this paper, we analyze the linear stabilities of several symplectic integrators, such as the first-order implicit Euler scheme, the second-order implicit mid-point Euler difference scheme, the first-order explicit Euler scheme, the second-order explicit leapfrog scheme and some of their combinations. For a linear Hamiltonian system, we find the stable regions of each scheme by theoretical analysis and check them by numerical tests. When the Hamiltonian is real symmetric quadratic, a diagonalizing by a similar transformation is suggested so that the theoretical analysis of the linear stability of the numerical method would be simplified. A Hamiltonian may be separated into a main part and a perturbation, or it may be spontaneously separated into kinetic and potential energy parts, but the former separation generally is much more charming because it has a much larger maximum step size for the symplectic being stable, no matter this Hamiltonian is linear or nonlinear.     

Explicit Symplectic Integrator for Rotating Satellites

An explicit symplectic integrator is constructed for the problem of a rotating planetary satellite on a Keplerian orbit. The spin vector is fixed perpendicularly to the orbital plane. The integrator is constructed according to the Wisdom-Holman approach: the Hamiltonian is separated in two parts so that one of them is multiplied by a small parameter. The parameter depends on the satellite’s shape or the eccentricity of its orbit. The leading part of the Hamiltonian for small eccentricity orbits is similar to the simple pendulum and hence integrable; the perturbation does not depend on angular momentum which implies a trivial ‘kick’ solution. In spite of the necessity to evaluate elliptic function at each step, the explicit symplectic integrator proves to be quite efficient. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Symplectic integrator for general near-integrable Hamiltonian system

In this paper, following the idea of constructing the mixed symplectic integrator (MSI) for a separable Hamiltonian system, we give a low order mixed symplectic integrator for an inseparable, but nearly integrable, Hamiltonian system, Although the difference schemes of the integrators are implicit, they not only have a small truncation error but, due to near integrability, also a faster convergence rate of iterative solution than ordinary implicit integrators, Moreover, these second order integrators are time-reversible.