Related papers: A simple construction of initial data for multiple…
In this contribution we present an overview of our work on the numerical simulation of the perturbation of a black hole space-time by incoming gravitational waves. The formulation we use is based on Friedrich's general conformal equations…
We present a new approach to the problem of binary black holes in the pre-coalescence stage, i.e. when the notion of orbit has still some meaning. Contrary to previous numerical treatments which are based on the initial value formulation of…
We prove the existence of a family of initial data for the Einstein vacuum equation which can be interpreted as the data for two Kerr-like black holes in arbitrary location and with spin in arbitrary direction. When the mass parameter of…
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 describe the first convergent numerical method to determine static black hole solutions (with S^3 horizon) in 5d compactified spacetime. We obtain a family of solutions parametrized by the ratio of the black hole size and the size of the…
Symmetry based approaches to the black hole entropy problem have a number of attractive features; in particular they are very general and do not depend on the details of the quantization method. However we point out that, of the two…
Non-continuous "jumps" of Apparent Horizons occur generically in 3+1 (binary) black hole evolutions. The dynamical trapping horizon framework suggests a spacetime picture in which these "Apparent Horizon jumps" are understood as spatial…
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…
We consider a vacuum static spacetime in a finite size cavity. On the boundary, we specify a metric and a finite constant local temperature $T$. No spherical or any other spatial symmetry is assumed. We show that (i) inside a cavity, only a…
Vacuum bubbles may nucleate during the inflationary epoch and expand, reaching relativistic speeds. After inflation ends, the bubbles are quickly slowed down, transferring their momentum to a shock wave that propagates outwards in the…
We prove the uniqueness theorem for asymptotically flat static vacuum black hole solutions in higher dimensional space-times. We also construct infinitely many non-asymptotically flat regular static black holes on the same spacetime…
We present a family of extensions of spherically symmetric Einstein-Lanczos-Lovelock gravity. The field equations are second order and obey a generalized Birkhoff's theorem. The Hamiltonian constraint can be written in terms of a…
We discuss simple vacuum solutions to the Einstein Equations in five dimensional space-times compactified in two different ways. In such spaces, one black hole phase and more then one black string phase may exist. Several old metrics are…
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 puncture method specifies black hole data on a hypersurface with the aid of a conformal rescaling of the metric that exhibits a coordinate singularity at the puncture point. When constructing puncture initial data by solving the…
This is an introduction into the problem of how to set up black hole initial-data for the matter-free field equations of General Relativity. The approach is semi-pedagogical and addresses a more general audience of astrophysicists and…
There is a significant possibility that astrophysical black holes with nearly-extremal spins exist. Numerical simulations of such systems require suitable initial data. In this paper, we examine three methods of constructing…
Boundary conditions defining a generic isolated horizon are introduced. They generalize the notion available in the existing literature by allowing the horizon to have distortion and angular momentum. Space-times containing a black hole,…
Traditional black-hole binary puncture initial data is conformally flat. This unphysical assumption is coupled with a lack of radiation signature from the binary's past life. As a result, waveforms extracted from evolutions of this data…
We show the existence of complete, asymptotically flat Cauchy initial data for the vacuum Einstein field equations, free of trapped surfaces, whose future development must admit a trapped surface. Moreover, the datum is exactly a constant…