BullFrog: Multi-step perturbation theory as a time integrator for cosmological simulations

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Rampf, Cornelius, List, Florian, Hahn, Oliver
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Rampf, Cornelius
List, Florian
Hahn, Oliver
author_facet Rampf, Cornelius
List, Florian
Hahn, Oliver
contents Modelling the cosmic large-scale structure can be done through numerical N-body simulations or by using perturbation theory. Here, we present an N-body approach that effectively implements a multi-step forward model based on Lagrangian Perturbation Theory (LPT) in a $Λ$CDM Universe. This is achieved by introducing the second-order accurate BullFrog integrator, which automatically performs 2LPT time steps to second order without requiring the explicit computation of 2LPT displacements. Importantly, we show that BullFrog trajectories rapidly converge to the exact solution as the number of time steps increases, at any moment in time, even though 2LPT becomes invalid after shell-crossing. As a validation test, we compare BullFrog against other N-body integrators and high-order LPT, both for a realistic $Λ$CDM cosmology and for simulations with a sharp UV cutoff in the initial conditions. The latter scenario enables controlled experiments against LPT and, in practice, is particularly relevant for modelling coarse-grained fluids arising in the context of effective field theory. We demonstrate that BullFrog significantly improves upon other LPT-inspired integrators, such as FastPM and COLA, without incurring any computational overhead compared to standard N-body integrators. Implementing BullFrog in any existing N-body code is straightforward, particularly if FastPM is already integrated.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_19049
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle BullFrog: Multi-step perturbation theory as a time integrator for cosmological simulations
Rampf, Cornelius
List, Florian
Hahn, Oliver
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Computational Physics
85-08 (Primary), 85A40 (Secondary)
Modelling the cosmic large-scale structure can be done through numerical N-body simulations or by using perturbation theory. Here, we present an N-body approach that effectively implements a multi-step forward model based on Lagrangian Perturbation Theory (LPT) in a $Λ$CDM Universe. This is achieved by introducing the second-order accurate BullFrog integrator, which automatically performs 2LPT time steps to second order without requiring the explicit computation of 2LPT displacements. Importantly, we show that BullFrog trajectories rapidly converge to the exact solution as the number of time steps increases, at any moment in time, even though 2LPT becomes invalid after shell-crossing. As a validation test, we compare BullFrog against other N-body integrators and high-order LPT, both for a realistic $Λ$CDM cosmology and for simulations with a sharp UV cutoff in the initial conditions. The latter scenario enables controlled experiments against LPT and, in practice, is particularly relevant for modelling coarse-grained fluids arising in the context of effective field theory. We demonstrate that BullFrog significantly improves upon other LPT-inspired integrators, such as FastPM and COLA, without incurring any computational overhead compared to standard N-body integrators. Implementing BullFrog in any existing N-body code is straightforward, particularly if FastPM is already integrated.
title BullFrog: Multi-step perturbation theory as a time integrator for cosmological simulations
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Computational Physics
85-08 (Primary), 85A40 (Secondary)
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.19049