Schwarzschild's method

noun

A method to develop triaxial equilibrium kinematic models of actual galaxies (without knowledge of the motions of the component elements of the actual galaxies) using a grid and assigning masses and orbits, simulating gravitational evolution with the resulting estimated distributions, to compare with the actual galaxy, until a model results in similarity with the actual galaxy.

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Meanings

nounSchwarzschild's method (uncountable)

alternative Schwarzschild method

  1. uncountableastronomyA method to develop triaxial equilibrium kinematic models of actual galaxies (without knowledge of the motions of the component elements of the actual galaxies) using a grid and assigning masses and orbits, simulating gravitational evolution with the resulting estimated distributions, to compare with the actual galaxy, until a model results in similarity with the actual galaxy.

    This is because in Schwarzschild's method we seek to match the distribution of matter only in configuration space but we ignore the velocity distribution which is an outcome of the method for any particular solution w#95;o.

    2008, Daniel Benest, Topics in Gravitational Dynamics

Origin

Named after German-American astrophysicist Martin Schwarzschild (1912–1997).

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APA

Schwarzschild's method. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Schwarzschild's%20method

MLA

“Schwarzschild's method.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Schwarzschild's%20method. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Schwarzschild's method,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Schwarzschild's%20method.

Source: Schwarzschild's method on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.