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arXiv · astro-ph/9605061

Made-to-measure N-body systems

D. Syer·S. Tremaine
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Abstract

We describe an algorithm for constructing N-body realisations of equilibrium stellar systems. The algorithm complements existing orbit-based modelling techniques using linear programming or other optimization algorithms. The equilibria are constructed by integrating an N-body system while slowly adjusting the masses of the particles until the time-averaged density field and other observables converge to a prescribed value. The procedure can be arranged to maximise a linear combination of the entropy of the system and the $χ^2$ statistic for the observables. The equilibria so produced may be useful as initial conditions for N-body simulations or for modelling observations of individual galaxies.

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D. Syer, S. Tremaine. 1996-05-13. Made-to-measure N-body systems. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras%2F282.1.223

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