Academic
N-Body Simulation of Planet and Galaxy Formations
My graduation project for the Astronautical Engineering degree at Istanbul Technical University. I numerically integrated the equations of motion for gravitationally interacting particles using MATLAB and the open-source REBOUND astrophysical package to simulate galaxy and planet formation.
Sep 2024 — Jun 2025
Final Presentation
Advisor
Asst. Prof. Dr. Cuma YarımIstanbul Technical University - Project Advisor
Problem & Context
Analyzing gravitational dynamics requires simulating complex multi-body interactions over extended timescales. The primary objective was to evaluate the performance and feasibility of specialized, open-source software like REBOUND against general-purpose computational tools like MATLAB for high-precision N-body simulations.
Accomplishments
- Conducted a comparative analysis between MATLAB's general-purpose solvers and REBOUND's open-source astrophysical integrators.
- Successfully simulated large-scale N-body scenarios, including planetary accretion and galaxy formation, leveraging REBOUND's high-performance algorithms.
- Evaluated the computational efficiency, modularity, and Python integration of open-source tools for celestial mechanics research.
Gained Experience
- Gained a deep understanding of numerical stability, error propagation, and conservation laws in solving differential equations.
- Demonstrated that specialized open-source tools like REBOUND provide superior efficiency and robustness for complex astrophysical simulations.
- Observed that while general-purpose platforms like MATLAB lack the execution speed of specialized integrators, they offer valuable transparency and adaptability for educational validation.
References
For additional references, please see the full project report.