English

Superconvergent Discontinuous Galerkin Method for the Scalar Teukolsky Equation on Hyperboloidal Domains: Efficient Waveform and Self-Force Computation

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2025-09-16 v2 Numerical Analysis Numerical Analysis

Abstract

The long-time evolution of extreme mass-ratio inspiral systems requires minimal phase and dispersion errors to accurately compute far-field waveforms, while high accuracy is essential near the smaller black hole (modeled as a Dirac delta distribution) for self-force computations. Spectrally accurate methods, such as nodal discontinuous Galerkin (DG) methods, are well suited for these tasks. Their numerical errors typically decrease as (Δx)N+1\propto (\Delta x)^{N+1}, where Δx\Delta x is the subdomain size and NN is the polynomial degree of the approximation. However, certain DG schemes exhibit superconvergence, where truncation, phase, and dispersion errors can decrease as fast as (Δx)2N+1\propto (\Delta x)^{2N+1}. Superconvergent numerical solvers are, by construction, extremely efficient and accurate. We theoretically demonstrate that our DG scheme for the scalar Teukolsky equation with a distributional source is superconvergent, and this property is retained when combined with the hyperboloidal layer compactification technique. This ensures that waveforms, total energy and angular-momentum fluxes, and self-force computations benefit from superconvergence. We empirically verify this behavior across a family of hyperboloidal layer compactifications with varying degrees of smoothness. Additionally, we show that self-force quantities for circular orbits, computed at the point particle's location, also exhibit a certain degree of superconvergence. Our results underscore the potential benefits of numerical superconvergence for efficient and accurate gravitational waveform simulations based on DG methods.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2503.11523,
  title  = {Superconvergent Discontinuous Galerkin Method for the Scalar Teukolsky Equation on Hyperboloidal Domains: Efficient Waveform and Self-Force Computation},
  author = {Manas Vishal and Scott E. Field and Sigal Gottlieb and Jennifer Ryan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.11523},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

14 pages, 7 figures, and 2 tables. Accepted to the General Relativity and Gravitation journal's topical collection on hyperboloidal foliations. Version 2 includes an extended discussion of long-lived "junk tails" at future null infinity and additional dissipative self-force computations