Evolution of a matter density under Newtonian gravity
Related evolution of current density and EM field.
This is my own question and answer in PSE.
QUESTION
I want to examine the physics of gravity. This subject has two parts: how the gravitational field influences the behavior of matter, and how matter determines the gravitational field. I want to understand first Newtonian gravity, where these two elements consist of the expression for the acceleration of a body in a gravitational potential
ANSWER
I have worked out my own answer. I would love someone tell me if this is all right or not.
In order to compute
More precisely:
- Continuity Equation: With this we describe the conservation of mass and how the density
changes over time:
where
- Euler Equation (Momentum Conservation): This stands for the motion of the matter in response to forces, including the gravitational force:
Here,
Solve the three PDEs simultaneously is probably impossible in most of the cases, so we proceed numerically as follows
-
Step 1: Use the initial density
and Poisson’s equation to compute the initial gravitational potential . -
Step 2: Solve the Euler equation to find the initial velocity field
of the matter. -
Step 3: Using the velocity field and the continuity equation, update
over small time steps. -
Step 4: Iterate this process. At each time step, update the gravitational potential
using Poisson’s equation, update the velocity field using the Euler equation, and then update the density using the continuity equation.