Related papers: Binary-black-hole initial data with nearly-extrema…
We present a formalism for constructing quasi-equilibrium binary black hole initial data suitable for numerical evolution. We construct quasi-equilibrium models by imposing an approximate helical Killing symmetry appropriate for…
Initial data for numerical evolutions of binary-black holes have been dominated by "conformally flat" (CF) data (i.e., initial data where the conformal background metric is chosen to be flat) because they are easy to construct. However, CF…
The construction of initial data for black-hole binaries usually involves the choice of free parameters that define the spins of the black holes and essentially the eccentricity of the orbit. Such parameters must be chosen carefully to…
We discuss the initial value problem of general relativity in its recently unified Lagrangian and Hamiltonian pictures and present a multi-domain pseudo-spectral collocation method to solve the resulting coupled nonlinear partial…
Binary black hole simulations starting from quasi-circular (i.e., zero radial velocity) initial data have orbits with small but non-zero orbital eccentricities. In this paper the quasi-equilibrium initial-data method is extended to allow…
We solve the Hamiltonian and momentum constraints of general relativity for two black holes with nearly extremal spins and relativistic boosts in the puncture formalism. We use a non-conformally-flat ansatz with an attenuated superposition…
We present a new numerical scheme to solve the initial value problem for black hole-neutron star binaries. This method takes advantage of the flexibility and fast convergence of a multidomain spectral representation of the initial data to…
The construction of initial-data sets representing binary black-hole configurations in quasi-circular orbits is studied in the context of the conformal-imaging formalism. An effective-potential approach for locating quasi-circular orbits is…
Construction of binary black hole initial data is a prerequisite for numerical evolutions of binary black holes. This paper reports improvements to the binary black hole initial data solver in the Spectral Einstein Code, to allow robust…
We present approximate analytical solutions to the Hamiltonian and momentum constraint equations, corresponding to systems composed of two black holes with arbitrary linear and angular momentum. The analytical nature of these initial data…
The standard approach to initial data for both analytic and numerical computations of black hole collisions has been to use conformally-flat initial geometry. Among other advantages, this choice allows the simple superposition of holes with…
We present a method to construct conformally curved initial data for charged black hole binaries with spin on arbitrary orbits. We generalize the superposed Kerr-Schild, extended conformal thin sandwich construction from [Lovelace et al.,…
Sequences of initial-data sets representing binary black holes in quasi-circular orbits have been used to calculate what may be interpreted as the innermost stable circular orbit. These sequences have been computed with two approaches. One…
The starting point of any general relativistic numerical simulation is a solution of the Hamiltonian and momentum constraints that (ideally) represents an astrophysically realistic scenario. We present a new method to produce initial data…
We obtain an explicit solution of the momentum constraint for conformally flat, maximal slicing, initial data which gives an alternative to the purely longitudinal extrinsic curvature of Bowen and York. The new solution is related, in a…
In numerical evolutions of binary black holes (BBH) it is desirable to easily control the orbital eccentricity of the BBH, and the number of orbits completed by the binary through merger. This paper presents fitting formulae that allow to…
A complete formalism for constructing initial data representing black-hole binaries in quasi-equilibrium is developed. Radiation reaction prohibits, in general, true equilibrium binary configurations. However, when the timescale for orbital…
Approximate solutions to the Einstein field equations are a valuable tool to investigate gravitational phenomena. An important aspect of any approximation is to investigate and quantify its regime of validity. We present a study that…
We construct approximate analytical solutions to the constraint equations of general relativity for binary black holes of arbitrary mass ratio in quasicircular orbit. We adopt the puncture method to solve the constraint equations in the…
We propose a new radial coordinate to write the Kerr metric in puncture form. Unlike the quasi-radial coordinate introduced previously, the horizon radius remains finite in our radial coordinate in the extreme Kerr limit a/M -> 1. This…