Related papers: Alternatives to standard puncture initial data for…
We present the first results from a new method for computing spacetimes representing corotating binary black holes in circular orbits. The method is based on the assumption of exact equilibrium. It uses the standard 3+1 decomposition of…
We describe early success in the evolution of binary black hole spacetimes with a numerical code based on a generalization of harmonic coordinates. Indications are that with sufficient resolution this scheme is capable of evolving binary…
When numerically solving Einstein's equations for binary black holes (BBH), we must find initial data on a three-dimensional spatial slice by solving constraint equations. The construction of initial data is a multi-step process, in which…
The production of numerical relativity waveforms that describe quasicircular binary black hole mergers requires high-quality initial data, and an algorithm to iteratively reduce residual eccentricity. To date, these tools remain closed…
The parabolic-hyperbolic form of the constraints is integrated numerically. The applied numerical stencil is $4^{th}$ order accurate (in the spatial directions) while 'time'-integration is made by using the method of lines with a $4^{th}$…
We have developed a numerical code to study the evolution of distorted, rotating black holes. This code is used to evolve a new family of black hole initial data sets corresponding to distorted ``Kerr'' holes with a wide range of rotation…
We consider the numerical evolution of black hole initial data sets, consisting of single black holes distorted by strong gravitational waves, with a full 3D, nonlinear evolution code. These data sets mimic the late stages of coalescing…
Many of the recent numerical simulations of binary black holes in vacuum adopt the moving puncture approach. This successful approach avoids the need to impose numerical excision of the black hole interior and is easy to implement. Here we…
We present an alternative approach to setting initial data in general relativity. We do not use a conformal decomposition, but instead express the 3-metric in terms of a given unit vector field and one unknown scalar field. In the case of…
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…
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…
Significant advances in numerical simulations of black-hole binaries have recently been achieved using the puncture method. We examine how and why this method works by evolving a single black hole. The coordinate singularity and hence the…
We demonstrate that numerical relativity codes based on the moving punctures formalism are capable of evolving nearly maximally spinning black hole binaries. We compare a new evolution of an equal-mass, aligned-spin binary with…
Accurate modelling of black hole binaries is critical to achieve the science goals of gravitational-wave detectors. Modelling such configurations relies strongly on calibration to numerical-relativity (NR) simulations. Binaries on…
We use a post-Newtonian diagnostic tool to examine numerically generated quasiequilibrium initial data sets for non-spinning double neutron star and neutron star-black hole binary systems. The PN equations include the effects of tidal…
We study the collision of two slowly rotating, initially non boosted, black holes in the close limit. A ``punctures'' modification of the Bowen - York method is used to construct conformally flat initial data appropriate to the problem. We…
We consider combining two important methods for constructing quasi-equilibrium initial data for binary black holes: the conformal thin-sandwich formalism and the puncture method. The former seeks to enforce stationarity in the conformal…
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…
Numerical relativity (NR) provides the most accurate waveforms for comparable-mass binary black holes but becomes prohibitively expensive for increasingly asymmetric mass ratios. Point-particle black hole perturbation theory (ppBHPT), which…
We describe a procedure for constructing initial data for boosted black holes in the moving-punctures approach to numerical relativity that endows the initial time slice from the outset with trumpet geometry within the black hole interiors.…