3D Barnes-Hut Galaxy Simulation

An optimized 3D implementation of the Barnes-Hut algorithm for simulating gravitational galaxy formation, developed as part of the "Simulation and Modeling of Natural Processes" course at University of Geneva.

Key Features

• 3D galaxy simulation with realistic gravitational interactions
• Performance optimizations including:
  • Numba-accelerated force calculations
  • Iterative tree traversal
  • Memory-efficient node structures
• Visualization using Matplotlib 3D

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• NumPy
• Matplotlib
• Numba (for acceleration)

Usage

python barnes_hut_3d.py

Configuration options available in the script:

• Number of bodies
• Time step (dt)
• Simulation duration
• Visualization settings

Academic Background

Developed by Ashkan Ajrian as course homework, based on Dr. Jonas Latt's original 2D implementation. Extended to 3D with performance optimizations.