English

Approximate initial data for binary black holes

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2007-05-23 v2

Abstract

We construct approximate analytical solutions to the constraint equations of general relativity for binary black holes of arbitrary mass ratio in quasicircular orbit. We adopt the puncture method to solve the constraint equations in the transverse-traceless decomposition and consider perturbations of Schwarzschild black holes caused by boosts and the presence of a binary companion. A superposition of these two perturbations then yields approximate, but fully analytic binary black hole initial data that are accurate to first order in the inverse of the binary separation and the square of the black holes' momenta.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.gr-qc/0606037,
  title  = {Approximate initial data for binary black holes},
  author = {Kenneth A. Dennison and Thomas W. Baumgarte and Harald P. Pfeiffer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:gr-qc/0606037},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

13 pages, 4 figures, added comparison to numerical calculations, accepted to PRD