Explicit, time-reversible and symplectic integrator for Hamiltonians in isotropic uniformly curved geometries

Abstract

The kinetic term of the $N$-body Hamiltonian system defined on the surface of the sphere is non-separable. As a result, standard explicit symplectic integrators are inapplicable. We exploit an underlying hierarchy in the structure of the kinetic term to construct an explicit time-reversible symplectic scheme of second order. We use iterative applications of the method to construct a fourth order scheme and demonstrate its efficiency.