{
  "id": "1803.01676",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2018-03-05T14:29:51.000Z",
  "updated": "2018-03-05T14:29:51.000Z",
  "title": "Triaxiality Inhibitors in N-Body Simulations",
  "authors": [
    "Eric I. Barnes",
    "Evan Dowling"
  ],
  "comment": "accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal",
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.GA"
  ],
  "abstract": "Numerous previous studies have investigated the phenomenon wherein initially spherical N-body systems are distorted to triaxial shapes. We report on an investigation of a previously described orbital instability that should oppose triaxiality. After verifying the instability with numerical orbit integrations that extend the original analysis, we search for evidence of the instability in N-body systems that become triaxial. Our results highlight the difficulty in separating dynamical process from finite-N effects. While we argue that our analysis points to the presence of the instability in simulated triaxial systems, discreteness appears to play a role in mimicking the instability. This suggests that predicting the shapes of real-world systems, such as dark matter halos around galaxies, based on such simulations involves more uncertainty than previously thought.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2018-03-05T14:29:51.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "n-body simulations",
      "triaxiality inhibitors",
      "dark matter halos",
      "orbital instability",
      "oppose triaxiality"
    ],
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 0,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable"
    }
  }
}