English

$\texttt{GR-Athena++}$ Simulations of Spinning Binary Black Hole Mergers

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2026-03-09 v2

Abstract

We present the second release of the GR-Athena++\texttt{GR-Athena++} waveform catalog, comprising four new quasi-circular, non-precessing, spinning binary black hole simulations. These simulations are performed at high resolutions and represent a step toward generating high-fidelity gravitational waveforms that can eventually meet the accuracy requirements of upcoming next-generation detectors, including LISA, Cosmic Explorer, and Einstein Telescope. Gravitational waves are extracted at future null infinity ( I+\mathscr{I}^{+}) using both Cauchy characteristic extraction and finite-radius extraction. For each simulation, we provide strain data across multiple resolutions and analyze waveform accuracy via convergence studies and self-mismatch analyses. The absolute phase and relative amplitude differences reach their largest values near the merger, while the smallest errors are of order O(102)\mathscr{O}(10^{-2}) and O(103)\mathscr{O}(10^{-3}), respectively. A self-mismatch analysis of the dominant (2,2)(2,2) mode yields mismatches between O(105)\mathscr{O}(10^{-5}) and O(107)\mathscr{O}(10^{-7}) for a total binary mass of 10610^{6} MM_{\odot} over the frequency range [0.002,0.1][0.002, 0.1] Hz using LISA noise curve. All waveforms are publicly available via ScholarSphere\texttt{ScholarSphere}.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2510.13963,
  title  = {$\texttt{GR-Athena++}$ Simulations of Spinning Binary Black Hole Mergers},
  author = {Estuti Shukla and Alireza Rashti and Rossella Gamba and David Radice and Koustav Chandra},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.13963},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

15 pages, 5 figures