The process by which galaxies form is undoubtedly among the most important unsolved problems in physics. There is a wealth of observational data, whose quality and quantity is ever increasing. Modern observations span the electromagnetic spectrum from radio frequency to gamma rays. Unfortunately, we still lack a firm theoretical understanding of the images put on photographic plates 40 years ago.
Astrophysics is at a disadvantage to the more terrestrial sciences.
It is simply impossible to conduct experiments on galaxies. An investigator can easily change the recipe for making a superconductor. The Touchstone Delta is currently the finest laboratory available for the study of the largest structures in the Universe. The brute-force method of solution is a double loop over the particles, which sum up the forces between each pair. This method vectorizes well and it parallelizes easily and efficiently.