SYMPLECTIC RUNGE-KUTTA AND RELATED METHODS - RECENT RESULTS

Symplectic algorithms are numerical integrators for Hamiltonian systems that preserve the symplectic structure in phase space. In long time integrations these algorithms tend to perform better than their nonsymplectic counterparts. Some symplectic algorithms are derived by explicitly finding a generating function. Other symplectic algorithms are members of standard families of methods, such as Runge-Kutta methods, that just turn out to preserve the symplectic structure. Here we survey what is known about the second type of symplectic algorithms.