  These lectures will cover methods for studying the evolution of galaxies
since their formation. Because the properties of a galaxy depend on its
history, an understanding of galaxy evolution requires that we understand the
dynamical interplay between all components. The first part will emphasize
n-body simulation methods which minimize sampling noise. These techniques are
based on harmonic expansions and scale linearly with the number of bodies,
similar to Fourier transform solutions used in cosmological simulations.
Although fast, until recently they were only efficiently used for small number
of geometries and background profiles. These same techniques may be used to
study the modes and response of a galaxy to an arbitrary perturbation. In
particular, I will describe the modal spectra of stellar systems and role of
damped modes which are generic to stellar systems in interactions and appear to
play a significant role in determining the common structures that we see. The
general development leads indirectly to guidelines for the number of particles
necessary to adequately represent the gravitational field such that the modal
spectrum is resolvable. I will then apply these same excitation to
understanding the importance of noise to galaxy evolution.
