Fast N-body Simulations on GPUs

The classic N -body problem of mechanics solves for the motion of N bodies interacting via the force of gravitation. Beyond gravitational masses, a variety of physical systems can be modeled by the interaction of N particles, e.g., atoms or ions under electrostatics and van der Waals forces lead to molecular dynamics. Also, the integral formulation of problems modeled by elliptic partial differential equations leads to numerical integration having the same form, computationally, as an N -body interaction. In this way, N body algorithms are applicable to acoustics, electromagnetics, and fluid dynamics. Adding to this diversity of applications, radiosity algorithms for global illumination problems in computer graphics also benefit from N -body methods.