Related papers: An explicit harmonic code for black-hole evolution…
We present techniques for long-term, stable, and accurate evolutions of multiple-black-hole spacetimes using the `moving puncture' approach with fourth- and eighth-order finite difference stencils. We use these techniques to explore…
The problem of the mutual attraction and joining of two black holes is of importance as both a source of gravitational waves and as a testbed of numerical relativity. If the holes start out close enough that they are initially surrounded by…
We present an algorithm for treating mesh refinement interfaces in numerical relativity. We detail the behavior of the solution near such interfaces located in the strong field regions of dynamical black hole spacetimes, with particular…
We perform a long-duration Bayesian analysis of gravitational-wave data to constrain the near-horizon geometry of black holes formed in binary mergers. Deviations from the Kerr geometry are parameterized by replacing the horizon's absorbing…
Several improvements in numerical methods and gauge choice are presented that make it possible now to perform simulations of the merger and ringdown phases of "generic" binary black-hole evolutions using the pseudo-spectral evolution code…
To describe a general bound binary black hole system, we need to consider orbital eccentricity and the misalignment of black holes' spin vectors with respect to the orbital angular momentum. While binary black holes produced through many…
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…
We simulate the gravitational dynamics of the conifold geometries (resolved and deformed) involved in the description of certain compact spacetimes. As the cycles of the conifold collapse towards a singular geometry we find that a horizon…
In general relativity, when two black holes merge they produce a rotating (Kerr) black hole remnant. According to perturbation theory, the remnant emits "ringdown" radiation: a superposition of exponentials with characteristic complex…
The head-on collision of two nonrotating axisymmetric equal mass black holes is treated numerically. We take as initial data the single parameter family of time-symmetric solutions discovered by Misner which consists of two Einstein-Rosen…
We describe a grid generation procedure designed to construct new classes of orthogonal coordinate systems for binary black hole spacetimes. The computed coordinates offer an alternative approach to current methods, in addition to providing…
We consider self-interacting scalar fields coupled to gravity. Two classes of exact solutions to Einstein's equations are obtained: the first class corresponds to the minimal coupling, the second one to the conformal coupling. One of the…
Modeling the radiation generated by accreting matter is an important step towards realistic simulations of black hole accretion disks, especially at high accretion rates. To this end, we have recently added radiation transport to the…
We investigate the dynamics and gravitational-wave (GW) emission in the binary merger of equal-mass black holes as obtained from numerical relativity simulations. Results from the evolution of three sets of initial data are explored in…
Finite-energy particles in free fall can collide with diverging center-of-mass energy near rapidly rotating black holes. What are the most salient observational signatures of this remarkable geometric effect? Here we revisit the problem…
I review the development of numerical evolution codes for general relativity based upon the characteristic initial value problem. Progress in characteristic evolution is traced from the early stage of 1D feasibility studies to 2D…
The gravitational waves emitted by a perturbed black hole ringing down are well described by damped sinusoids, whose frequencies are those of quasinormal modes. Typically, first-order black hole perturbation theory is used to calculate…
We developed a numerical code which evolves the semiclassical Einstein's equation (with the quantum stress-energy contribution added as a source term) for the spherically symmetric metric inside an evaporating semiclassical charged black…
When using the black hole exclusion (horizon boundary condition) technique, $K$ is usually nonzero and spatially variable, so none of the special cases of York's conformal-decomposition algorithm apply, and the full 4-vector nonlinear York…
In this second part of a two-part paper, we discuss numerical simulations of a head-on merger of two non-spinning black holes. We resolve the fate of the original two apparent horizons by showing that after intersecting, their world tubes…