Verlet Integration

Verlet integration is a numerical method used to integrate Newton's equations of motion. It is frequently used to calculate trajectories of particles in molecular dynamics simulations and computer graphics. The algorithm was first used in 1791 by Delambre, and has been rediscovered many times since then, most recently by Verlet in 1960’s for molecular dynamics. It was also used by Cowell and Crommelin in 1909 to compute the orbit of Halley’s comet, and by Störmer in 1907 to study the motion of electrical particles in a magnetic field. The Verlet integrator offers greater stability, as well as other properties that are important in physical systems such as time-reversibility and preservation of the symplectic form on phase space, at no significant additional cost over the simple Euler method. Verlet integration was used by Carl Størmer to compute the trajectories of particles moving in a magnetic field (hence it is also called Störmer's method) and was popularized in molecular dynamics by French physicist Loup Verlet in 1967.