English

Symplectic Integration of Post-Newtonian Equations of Motion with Spin

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2010-05-25 v1 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

We present a non-canonically symplectic integration scheme tailored to numerically computing the post-Newtonian motion of a spinning black-hole binary. Using a splitting approach we combine the flows of orbital and spin contributions. In the context of the splitting, it is possible to integrate the individual terms of the spin-orbit and spin-spin Hamiltonians analytically, exploiting the special structure of the underlying equations of motion. The outcome is a symplectic, time-reversible integrator, which can be raised to arbitrary order by composition. A fourth-order version is shown to give excellent behavior concerning error growth and conservation of energy and angular momentum in long-term simulations. Favorable properties of the integrator are retained in the presence of weak dissipative forces due to radiation damping in the full post-Newtonian equations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1003.5122,
  title  = {Symplectic Integration of Post-Newtonian Equations of Motion with Spin},
  author = {Christian Lubich and Benny Walther and Bernd Bruegmann},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1003.5122},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

9 pages, 6 figures