Toomre Model for Galaxy Collisions
Physics Finite Difference Approximation MATLAB
The Toomre model is a simplified model to describe the dynamics of galaxy interactions. There are two major assumptions that facilitate the model complexity. First, each galaxy consists of a central point particle called a ”core” which consists of gravitating mass. Second, stars that orbit a galaxy only experience gravitational influence from cores and not from other stars. These two components make it possible to implement an effective and efficient simulation for galaxy interactions/collisions. I used a second-order centered FDA to approximate the differential equation describing N gravitating masses.