I am curious whether anyone has done large-scale simulations of point masses in 3-space with random initial positions and velocities, under Newtonian mechanics & gravity.
I'm especially curious whether that's enough for galaxy-shaped objects to appear.
--Dan
I doubt that's sufficient to form galaxies, since even explanations of observed galactic rotation are unsatisfactory. Different flavors and distributions of dark matter seem to be the leading theories for reconciling observed motion, but modification of gravitational attraction at large distances also offers some theories. One interesting recent development is that all galaxies seem to have (and perhaps require) a large black hole to organize around, roughly proportional to the galactic mass. This organizing principle might even extend to globular clusters. - Scott