Dynamical chaos in the Wisdom-Holman integrator: Origins and solutions

We examine the nonlinear stability of the Wisdom-Holman (WH) symplectic mapping applied to the integration of perturbed, highly eccentric (e greater than or similar to 0.9) two-body orbits. We find that the method is unstable and introduces artificial chaos into the computed trajectories for this class of problems, unless the step size chosen is small enough that periapse is always resolved, in which case the method is generically stable. This "radial orbit instability" persists even for weakly perturbed systems. Using the Stark problem as a fiducial test case, we investigate the dynamical origin of this instability and argue that the numerical chaos results from the overlap of step-size resonances; interestingly, for the Stark problem many of these resonances appear to be absolutely stable. We similarly examine the robustness of several alternative integration methods: a time-regularized version of the WH mapping suggested by Mikkola; the potential-splitting (PS) method of Duncan, Levison, & Lee; and two original methods incorporating approximations based on Stark motion instead of Keplerian motion (compare Newman et al.). The two fixed point problem and a related, more general problem are used to conduct a comparative test of the various methods for several types of motion. Among the algorithms tested, the time-transformed WH mapping is clearly the most efficient and stable method of integrating eccentric, nearly Keplerian orbits in the absence of close encounters. For test particles subject to both high eccentricities and very close encounters, we find an enhanced version of the PS method - incorporating time regularization, force-center switching, and an improved kernel function - to be both economical and highly versatile. We conclude that Stark-based methods are of marginal utility in N-body type integrations. Additional implications for the symplectic integration of N-body systems are discussed.