Related papers: Improvements to the construction of binary black h…
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 $4^{th}$…
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…
(Abridged) By asymptotically matching a post-Newtonian (PN) metric to two tidally perturbed Schwarzschild metrics, we generate approximate initial data (in the form of a 4-metric) for a nonspinning black hole binary in a circular orbit. We…
By applying a parabolic-hyperbolic formulation of the constraints and superposing Kerr-Schild black holes, a simple method is introduced to initialize time evolution of binary systems. As the input parameters are essentially the same as…
An orbiting black hole binary will generate strong gravitational radiation signatures, making these binaries important candidates for detection in gravitational wave observatories. The gravitational radiation is characterized by the orbital…
We perform the first fully nonlinear numerical simulations of black-hole binaries with mass ratios 100:1. Our technique for evolving such extreme mass ratios is based on the moving puncture approach with a new gauge condition and an optimal…
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…
Simulations of binary black hole systems using the Spectral Einstein Code (SpEC) are done on a computational domain that excises the regions inside the black holes. It is imperative that the excision boundaries are outflow boundaries with…
We explore whether a new method to solve the constraints of Einstein's equations, which does not involve elliptic equations, can be applied to provide initial data for black holes. We show that this method can be successfully applied to a…
We follow the inspiral and merger of equal-mass black holes (BHs) by the moving puncture technique and demonstrate that both the exterior solution and the asymptotic gravitational waveforms are unchanged when the initial interior solution…
We develop a method to compute low-eccentricity initial data of black hole--neutron star binaries in the puncture framework extending previous work on other types of compact binaries. In addition to adjusting the orbital angular velocity of…
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 present a new initial data formulation to solve the full set of Einstein equations for spacetimes that contain a black hole under general conditions. The method can be used to construct complete initial data for spacetimes (the full…
We present an algorithm for solving the general relativistic initial value equations for a corotating polytropic star in quasicircular orbit with a nonspinning black hole. The algorithm is used to obtain initial data for cases where the…
A shortcoming of current binary black-hole initial data is the generation of spurious gravitational radiation, so-called junk radiation, when they are evolved. This problem is a consequence of an oversimplified modeling of the binary's…
In Kelly et al. [Phys. Rev. D, 76:024008, 2007], we presented new binary black-hole initial data adapted to puncture evolutions in numerical relativity. This data satisfies the constraint equations to 2.5 post-Newtonian order, and contains…
A new approach to construct initial data for binary systems with neutron star components is introduced. The approach is a generalization of the puncture initial data method for binary black holes based on Bowen-York solutions to the…
We present a new algorithm for evolving orbiting black-hole binaries that does not require excision or a corotating shift. Our algorithm is based on a novel technique to handle the singular puncture conformal factor. This system, based on…
We present a new scheme for constructing initial data for the Einstein field equations using the conformal thin-sandwich formulation that does not assume conformal flatness or approximate Killing vectors. This includes a method for…
As numerical calculations of inspiralling neutron-star binaries reach values of accuracy that are comparable with those of binary black holes, a fine budgeting of the various sources of error becomes increasingly important. Among such…