Related papers: Conformal-thin-sandwich initial data for a single …
We perform a statistical analysis of the binary black hole problem in the post-Newtonian approximation by systematically sampling and evolving the parameter space of initial configurations for quasi-circular inspirals. Through a principal…
The precise modeling of binary black hole coalescences in generic planar orbits is a crucial step to disentangle dynamical and isolated binary formation channels through gravitational-wave observations. The merger regime of such…
We use post-Newtonian (PN) approximations to determine the initial orbital and spin parameters of black hole binaries that lead to low-eccentricity inspirals when evolved with numerical relativity techniques. In particular, we seek initial…
Numerical relativity codes now being developed will evolve initial data representing colliding black holes at a relatively late stage in the collision. The choice of initial data used for code development has been made on the basis of…
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…
In this work we present our first results of binary black hole circular orbits using {\sc cocal}, the Compact Object CALculator. Using the 3+1 decomposition five equations are being solved under the assumptions of conformal flatness and…
We propose and explore a "stationary 1+log" slicing condition for the construction of solutions to Einstein's constraint equations. For stationary spacetimes, these initial data will give a stationary foliation when evolved with "moving…
With the goal of taking a step toward the construction of astrophysically realistic initial data for numerical simulations of black holes, we for the first time derive a family of fully general relativistic initial data based on…
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 compute the gravitational waveform emitted during the transition from quasi-spherical inspiral to plunge, merger and ringdown for a system of two black holes in the extreme mass ratio limit, where the primary is spinning and the…
We integrate the third and a half post-Newtonian equations of motion for a fully generic binary black hole system, allowing both for non-circular orbits, and for one or both of the black holes to spin, in any orientation. Using the second…
Recently, the gravitational scattering of two black holes (BHs) treated at the leading order in the weak-field, or post-Minkowskian (PM), approximation to General Relativity has been shown to map bijectively onto a simpler effectively…
We construct approximate initial data for non-spinning black hole binary systems by asymptotically matching the 4-metrics of two tidally perturbed Schwarzschild solutions in isotropic coordinates to a resummed post-Newtonian 4-metric in…
Binary black hole spacetimes with a helical Killing vector, which are discussed as an approximation for the early stage of a binary system, are studied in a projection formalism. In this setting the four dimensional Einstein equations are…
We present simple procedures to construct quasi-circular initial data for numerical evolutions of binary black hole spacetimes. Our method consists of using Post-Newtonian theory in three ways: first to provide an initial guess for the…
We compute the radiation emitted by a particle on the innermost stable circular orbit of a rapidly spinning black hole both (a) analytically, working to leading order in the deviation from extremality and (b) numerically, with a new…
We study a simple analytic solution to Einstein's field equations describing a thin spherical shell consisting of collisionless particles in circular orbit. We then apply two independent criteria for the identification of circular orbits,…
The characteristic initial value problem has been implemented as a robust computational algorithm (the PITT NULL CODE), with direct application to binary black holes. The event horizon can be analyzed by characteristic techniques as a…
We investigate the (conservative) dynamics of binary black holes using the Hamiltonian formulation of the post-Newtonian (PN) equations of motion. The Hamiltonian we use includes spin-orbit coupling, spin-spin coupling, and mass…
We present results from fully nonlinear simulations of unequal mass binary black holes plunging from close separations well inside the innermost stable circular orbit with mass ratios q = M_1/M_2 = {1,0.85,0.78,0.55,0.32}, or equivalently,…