Event Horizons in Numerical Relativity I: Methods and Tests
Abstract
This is the first paper in a series on event horizons in numerical relativity. In this paper we present methods for obtaining the location of an event horizon in a numerically generated spacetime. The location of an event horizon is determined based on two key ideas: (1) integrating backward in time, and (2) integrating the whole horizon surface. The accuracy and efficiency of the methods are examined with various sample spacetimes, including both analytic (Schwarzschild and Kerr) and numerically generated black holes. The numerically evolved spacetimes contain highly distorted black holes, rotating black holes, and colliding black holes. In all cases studied, our methods can find event horizons to within a very small fraction of a grid zone.
Cite
@article{arxiv.gr-qc/9412068,
title = {Event Horizons in Numerical Relativity I: Methods and Tests},
author = {Joseph Libson and Joan Masso and Edward Seidel and Wai-Mo Suen and Paul Walker},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:gr-qc/9412068},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
22 pages, LaTeX with RevTeX 3.0 macros, 20 uuencoded gz-compressed postscript figures. Also available at http://jean-luc.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Papers/ Submitted to Physical Review D