GIZMO is a flexible, multi-method magneto-hydrodynamics+gravity code that solves the hydrodynamic equations using a variety of different methods. It introduces new Lagrangian Godunov-type methods that allow solving the fluid equations with a moving particle distribution that is automatically adaptive in resolution and avoids the advection errors, angular momentum conservation errors, and excessive diffusion problems that seriously limit the applicability of “adaptive mesh” (AMR) codes, while simultaneously avoiding the low-order errors inherent to simpler methods like smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH). GIZMO also allows the use of SPH either in “traditional” form or “modern” (more accurate) forms, or use of a mesh. Self-gravity is solved quickly with a BH-Tree (optionally a hybrid PM-Tree for periodic boundaries) and on-the-fly adaptive gravitational softenings. The code is descended from P-GADGET, itself descended from GADGET-2 (ascl:0003.001), and many of the naming conventions remain (for the sake of compatibility with the large library of GADGET work and analysis software).

Pressure-Entropy SPH, a modified version of GADGET-2, uses the Lagrangian “Pressure-Entropy” formulation of the SPH equations. This removes the spurious “surface tension” force substantially improving the treatment of fluid mixing and contact discontinuities. Pressure-Entropy SPH shows good performance in mixing experiments (e.g. Kelvin-Helmholtz & blob tests), with conservation maintained even in strong shock/blastwave tests, where formulations without manifest conservation produce large errors. This improves the treatment of sub-sonic turbulence and lessens the need for large kernel particle numbers.

SatGen generates satellite-galaxy populations for host halos of desired mass and redshift. It combines halo merger trees, empirical relations for galaxy-halo connection, and analytic prescriptions for tidal effects, dynamical friction, and ram-pressure stripping. It emulates zoom-in cosmological hydrosimulations in certain ways and outperforms simulations regarding statistical power and numerical resolution.

The SIDM model combines the isothermal Jeans model and the model of adiabatic halo contraction into a simple semi-analytic procedure for computing the density profile of self-interacting dark-matter (SIDM) haloes with the gravitational influence from the inhabitant galaxies. It agrees well with cosmological SIDM simulations over the entire core-forming stage and up to the onset of gravothermal core-collapse. The fast speed of the method facilitates analyses that would be challenging for numerical simulations.