Numerical experiments on the efficiency of second-order mixed-variable symplectic integrators for \(N\)-body problems (Q1364163)

The authors show that the evolution of the mean error in action-like variables is strongly dependent on the initial configuration of the system. The authors also examine the effect of changing the step size during the integration on the ability of second-order mixed-variable symplectic integrators to reproduce orbital evolutions, and on the symplectic property and the ability to remain close to the correct manifold. Moreover, the authors show that the Jacobi constant in a restricted three-body problem is not conserved anymore when the step size is changed frequently. In reviewer's opinion, the main conclusions of this paper, namely that mixed-variable symplectic integrators are efficient either for \(N\)-body problems which do not include close encounters or for statistical investigations on a large sample of particles, are very important for practical calculations.