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Iowa State University

Distribution-independent hierarchical N-body methods

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>The N-body problem is to simulate the motion of N particles under the influence of mutual force fields based on an inverse square Law; The problem has applications in several domains including astrophysics, molecular dynamics, fluid dynamics, radiosity methods in computer graphics and numerical complex analysis. Research efforts have focused on reducing the O(N[superscript]2) time per iteration required by the naive algorithm of computing each pairwise interaction. Widely respected among these are the Barnes-Hut and Greengard methods. Greengard claims his algorithm reduces the complexity to O(N) time per iteration;Throughout this thesis, we concentrate on rigorous, distribution-independent, worst-case analysis of the N-body methods. We show that Greengard's algorithm is not O(N), as claimed. Both Barnes-Hut and Greengard's methods depend on the same data structure, which we show is distribution-dependent. For the distribution that results in the smallest running time, we show that Greengard's algorithm is [omega](N log[superscript]2N) in two dimensions and [omega](N log[superscript]4N) in three dimensions. Both algorithms are unbounded for arbitrary distributions;We have designed a hierarchical data structure whose size depends entirely upon the number of particles and is independent of the distribution of the particles. We show that both Greengard's and Barnes-Hut algorithms can be used in conjunction with this data structure to reduce their complexity. Apart from reducing the complexity of the Barnes-Hut algorithm, the data structure also permits more accurate error estimation. We present two- and three-dimensional algorithms for creating the data structure. The multipole method designed using this data structure has a complexity of O(N log N) in two dimensions and O(N log[superscript]2 N) in three dimensions.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Doctor of Philosophy
Level thesis:degree_level
dissertation
Department dc:contributor.department
Department of Computer Science
Year dc:date.issued
1994

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Aluru, Srinivas
Advisors dc:contributor.advisor
  • G. M. Prabhu
  • John Gustafson

Rights

Language dc:language.iso
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Identifier
archive/lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/10673/
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:dr.lib.iastate.edu:20.500.12876/63845

Chain of custody

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Iowa State University
Base URL
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Last updated
2026-07-24
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related terms
citation

Aluru, Srinivas. Distribution-independent hierarchical N-body methods. dissertation thesis, 1994. https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/handle/20.500.12876/63845