On the Sitnikov problem

A mapping which reflects the properties of the Sitnikov problem is derived. We study the mapping instead of the original differential equations and discover that there exists a hyperbolic invariant set. The theoretical prediction of the disorder region agrees remarkably with numerical results. We also discuss the LCEs and KS-entropy of the dynamical system.This project is supported by the National Science Foundation of China.     

The structure of a shock front in atomic hydrogen

We examine the problem of a shock wave propagating in a gravitational field in the presence of pressure and density gradients by attacking the non-linear equations of fluid flow. Our approach is analytical rather than numerical, and we analyze the characteristic equations of a fluid in the presence of gravity with radiative dissipation. Because the radiation field enters the fluid equations in the form of an integral, radiative dissipation may be considered an inhomogeneity which does not affect the characteristic directions. The fluid equations remain hyperbolic and thus are amenable to solution by the standard techniques of gas analysis.We give an equation of path for a shock wave and we enumerate the physical conditions which lead to stability or instability. We find that shock waves are generally unstable in most stellar atmospheres unless they are very weak. The form of the instability is that of a spicule deformation similar to that observed in the upper solar chromosphere.This work was carried out at the Smithsonian-Harvard Astrophysical Observatory and was presented in a thesis to Brandeis University, May 1963.     

A New Formulation for General Relativistic Force-Free Electrodynamics and Its Applications

We formulate the general relativistic force-free electrodynamics in a new 3 1 language. In this formulation,when we have properly defined electric and magnetic fields,the covariant Maxwell equations could be cast in the traditional form with new vacuum con-stitutive constraint equations. The fundamental equation governing a stationary,axisymmet-ric force-free black hole magnetosphere is derived using this formulation which recasts the Grad-Shafranov equation in a simpler way. Compared to the classic 3 1 system of Thorne and MacDonald,the new system of 3 1 equations is more suitable for numerical use for it keeps the hyperbolic structure of the electrodynamics and avoids the singularity at the event horizon. This formulation could be readily extended to non-relativistic limit and find applica-tions in flat spacetime. We investigate its application to disk wind,black hole magnetosphere and solar physics in both flat and curved spacetime.     

RECONSTRUCTING THE SOLAR CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD AS A FORCE-FREE MAGNETIC FIELD

We present some preliminary results on different mathematical problems encountered in attempts to reconstruct the coronal magnetic field, assumed to be in a force-free state, from its values in the photosphere. We discuss the formulations associated with these problems, and some new numerical methods that can be used to get their approximate solutions. Both the linear constant- and the nonlinear cases are considered. We also discuss the possible use of dynamical 3D MHD codes to construct approximate solutions of the equilibrium force-free equations, which are needed for testing numerical extrapolation schemes.     

Code Development of Three-Dimensional General Relativistic Hydrodynamics with AMR (Adaptive-Mesh Refinement) and Results from Special and General Relativistic Hydrodynamics

In this paper, the general procedure to solve the general relativistic hydrodynamical (GRH) equations with adaptive-mesh refinement (AMR) is presented. In order to achieve, the GRH equations are written in the conservation form to exploit their hyperbolic character. The numerical solutions of GRH equations are obtained by high resolution shock Capturing schemes (HRSC), specifically designed to solve nonlinear hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. These schemes depend on the characteristic information of the system. The Marquina fluxes with MUSCL left and right states are used to solve GRH equations. First, different test problems with uniform and AMR grids on the special relativistic hydrodynamics equations are carried out to verify the second-order convergence of the code in one, two and three dimensions. Results from uniform and AMR grid are compared. It is found that adaptive grid does a better job when the number of resolution is increased. Second, the GRH equations are tested using two different test problems which are Geodesic flow and Circular motion of particle In order to do this, the flux part of GRH equations is coupled with source part using Strang splitting. The coupling of the GRH equations is carried out in a treatment which gives second order accurate solutions in space and time. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The nth-order stellar hydrodynamic equation: transfer of comoving moments and pressures

The exact mathematical expression for an arbitrary n th-order stellar hydrodynamic equation is explicitly obtained depending on the central moments of the velocity distribution. In such a form the equations are physically meaningful, since they can be compared with the ordinary hydrodynamic equations of compressible, viscous fluids. The equations are deduced without any particular assumptions about symmetries, steadiness or particular kinematic behaviours, so that they can be used in their complete form, and for any order, in future works with improved observational data. Also, in order to work with a finite number of equations and unknowns, which would provide a dynamic model for the stellar system, the n th-order equation is needed to investigate in a more general way the closure conditions, which may be expressed in terms of velocity distribution statistics. A case example for a Schwarzschild distribution shows how the infinite hierarchy of hydrodynamic equations is reduced to the equations of orders   n = 0, 1, 2, 3  , owing to the recurrent form of the central moments and to the equations of order   n = 2  and 3, which become closure conditions for higher even- and odd-order equations, respectively. The closure example is generalized to a quadratic function in the peculiar velocities, so that the equivalence between moment equations and the system of equations that Chandrasekhar had obtained working from the collisionless Boltzmann equation is borne out.     

A complex exponential solution to the unified two-body problem

A complex exponential solution has been derived which unifies the elliptic and hyperbolic trajectories into a single set of equations and provides an exact, analytical solution to the unperturbed, Keplerian two-body problem. The formulation eliminates singularities associated with the elliptic and hyperbolic trajectories that arise from these orbits. Using this complex exponential solution formulation, a variation of parameters formulation for the perturbed two-body problem has been derived. In this paper, we present the analytical formulation of the complex exponential solution, numerical simulations, a comparison with classical solution methods, and highlight the benefits of this approach compared with the classical developments. Previously presented as AAS 07-136 at the 17th AAS/AIAA Spaceflight Mechanics Meeting Sedona, Arizona, AAS 08-206 and AAS 08-230 at the 18th AAS/AIAA Spaceflight Mechanics Meeting Galveston, Texas.     

The Role of Hyperbolic Invariant Sets in Stickiness Effects

With the standard map model, we study the stickiness effect of invariant tori, particularly the role of hyperbolic sets in this effect. The diffusion of orbits originated from the neighborhoods of hyperbolic points, periodic islands and torus is studied. We find that they possess similar diffusion rules, but the diffusion of orbits originated from the neighborhood of a torus is faster than that originated near a hyperbolic set. The numerical results show that an orbit in the neighborhood of a torus spends most of time around hyperbolic invariant sets. We also calculate the areas of islands with different periods. The decay of areas with the periods obeys a power law, and the absolute values of the exponents increase monotonously with the perturbation parameter. According to the results obtained, we conclude that the stickiness effect of tori is caused mainly by the hyperbolic invariant sets near the tori, and the diffusion speed becomes larger when orbits diffuse away from the torus.     

N-Body Simulation of a Deeply Penetrating Collision Between Unequal Galaxies

We study the tidal effects of a deeply penetrating collision between two spherical galaxies, one twice massive but less dense than the other, by numerical simulations. We consider the relative motion of the galaxies to be initially in a hyperbolic orbit. The collision parameters are so chosen that the primary (bigger) galaxy is just below the limit of disruption and the relative velocity of the pair is slightly in excess of the escape limit and the primary suffer greater tidal damage than the secondary. The primary develops a core halo structure and shows over all expansion while the secondary while the secondary shows contraction in the inner region and less significant expansion in the outer parts. The initially hyperbolic orbit is transformed into a parabolic orbit as a result of the collision. The result also indicate that the tidal interaction does not induce appreciable rotation in hyperbolic collision. We calculate the angle of deflection of the orbit and compare it with that computed using analytical work. The numerical work shows larger angle of deflection which is attributed to the large tidal effects of the bigger galaxy in the interpenetrating collision. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Accurate integration of geostationary orbits with Burdet's focal elements

The theory of Burdet's focal elements is outlined. The differential equations are presented, and the initial value problem is described together with the transformation to rectangular coordinates and classical elements. The focal elements are well defined for zero eccentricity and inclination. They can be adopted for the computation of elliptic, parabolic and hyperbolic motion. For the numerical integration of near-geostationary orbits a comparison of the efficiency is made between focal elements, KS theory and rectangular coordinates. For this class of orbits, a higher accuracy has been obtained by integrating elements than integrating rectangular coordinates.     

Modeling the Newtonian dynamics for rotation curve analysis of thin-disk galaxies

We present an efficient,robust computational method for modeling the Newtonian dynamics for rotation curve analysis of thin-disk galaxies.With appropriate mathematical treatments,the apparent numerical difficulties associated with singularities in computing elliptic integrals are completely removed.Using a boundary element discretization procedure,the governing equations are transformed into a linear algebra matrix equation that can be solved by straightforward Gauss elimination in one step without further ...     

Solving non-linear Lane–Emden type equations using Bessel orthogonal functions collocation method

The Lane–Emden type equations are employed in the modeling of several phenomena in the areas of mathematical physics and astrophysics. These equations are categorized as non-linear singular ordinary differential equations on the semi-infinite domain $[0,\infty )$ . In this research we introduce the Bessel orthogonal functions as new basis for spectral methods and also, present an efficient numerical algorithm based on them and collocation method for solving these well-known equations. We compare the obtained results with other results to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the presented scheme. To obtain the orthogonal Bessel functions we need their roots. We use the algorithm presented by Glaser et al. (SIAM J Sci Comput 29:1420–1438, 2007) to obtain the $N$ roots of Bessel functions.     

An approximate Riemann solver for relativistic magnetohydrodynamics

A Godunov-type scheme for relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations is developed. We consider the Maxwell equations and dynamic equations for a gas with perfect conductivity in hyperbolic form as was suggested by van Putten. To calculate the fluxes of conservative variables through cells' interfaces we suggest an algorithm for the solution of the linearized Riemann problem. 'Primitive' variables are calculated by solving a non-linear system using the Newton method .     

Magnetogasdynamic plane shock motion

In the present work the reflection of a plane shock wave is studied in order to achieve a high pressure and temperature state by a reflected shock wave. We consider the plane geometry and solve the one-dimensional, time-dependent system of hyperbolic equations by Rusanov's method.     

A numerical study of the hyperbolic manifolds in a priori unstable systems. A comparison with Melnikov approximations

Using numerical methods we study the hyperbolic manifolds in a model of a priori unstable dynamical system. We compare the numerically computed manifolds with their analytic expression obtained with the Melnikov approximation. We find that, at small values of the perturbing parameter, the topology of the numerically computed stable and unstable manifolds is the same as in their Melnikov approximation. Increasing the value of the perturbing parameter, we find that the stable and unstable manifolds have a peculiar topological transition. We find that this transition occurs near those values of the perturbing parameter for which the error terms of Melnikov approximations have a sharp increment. The transition value is also correlated with a change in the behaviour of dynamical quantities, such as the largest Lyapunov exponent and the diffusion coefficient.     

An exact solution to determination of an open orbit

We present an exact solution of the equations for orbit determination of a two body system in a hyperbolic or parabolic motion. In solving this problem, we extend the method employed by Asada, Akasaka and Kasai (AAK) for a binary system in an elliptic orbit. The solutions applicable to each of elliptic, hyperbolic and parabolic orbits are obtained by the new approach, and they are all expressed in an explicit form, remarkably, only in terms of elementary functions. We show also that the solutions for an open orbit are recovered by making a suitable transformation of the AAK solution for an elliptic case.     

Explicit Adaptive Symplectic (Easy) Integrators: A Scaling Invariant Generalisation of the Levi-Civitaand KS Regularisations

We present a generalisation of the Levi-Civita and Kustaanheimo-Stiefel regularisation. This allows the use of more general time rescalings. In particular, it is possible to find a regularisation which removes the singularity of the equations and preserves scaling invariance. In addition, these equations can, in certain cases, be integrated with explicit symplectic Runge-Kutta-Nyström methods. The combination of both techniques gives an explicit adaptive symplectic (EASY) integrator. We apply those methods to some perturbations of the Kepler problem and illustrate, by means of some numerical examples, when scaling invariant regularisations are more efficient that the LC/KS regularisation.