We present convergent gravitational waveforms extracted from three-dimensional, numerical simulations in the wave zone and with causally disconnected boundaries. These waveforms last for multiple periods and are very accurate, showing a peak error to peak amplitude ratio of 2% or better. Our approach includes defining the Weyl scalar Psi_4 in terms of a three-plus-one decomposition of the Einstein equations; applying, for the first time, a novel algorithm due to Misner for computing spherical harmonic components of our wave data; and using fixed mesh refinement to focus resolution on non-linear sources while simultaneously resolving the wave zone and maintaining a causally disconnected computational boundary. We apply our techniques to a (linear) Teukolsky wave, and then to an equal mass, head-on collision of two black holes. We argue both for the quality of our results and for the value of these problems as standard test cases for wave extraction techniques.
@article{arxiv.gr-qc/0503100,
title = {Wave zone extraction of gravitational radiation in three-dimensional numerical relativity},
author = {David R. Fiske and John G. Baker and James R. van Meter and Dae-Il Choi and Joan M. Centrella},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:gr-qc/0503100},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
11 pages, 5 figures. In version two we have included more references to existing literature. The main content of the manuscript remains unchanged