Rapid evaluation of radiation boundary kernels for time-domain wave propagation on black holes: theory and numerical methods (Q1880745)

The author considers the evolution problem for the scalar wave equation \[ \sum^3_{\mu,\nu= 0} {1\over\sqrt{-g}} {\partial\over\partial x\mu}\,\Biggl(\sqrt{-g}\, g^{\mu\nu} {\partial U\over\partial x^\nu}\Biggr)= 0\tag{1} \] describing a field \(U\) propagating on a Schwarzschild black hole determined by \(g\) metric functions. A slight modification of (1) yields a wave equation flexible enough to also describe propagation of electromagnetic or gravitational waves on a Schwarzschild black hole. As a model of gravitational collapse and stellar perturbations, among others. Section 2 discusses variable transformations, various resulting forms of (1) and the exact radiation outer boundary conditions (ROBC). It starts by defining dimensionless coordinates for time \(\tau\), radius \(\rho\) and Laplace frequency \(\sigma\). For example, \(r= 2m\rho\) and \(r= \sigma/(2m)\). The outer boundary \(B\) is determined \(\rho= \rho_B\). With these coordinates the asymptotically outgoing solution \(W_\ell(\sigma\rho;\sigma)\) to the radial equation is introduced. For a given angular index \(\ell\) the time-domain radiation (boundary) kernel \(\omega_\ell(\tau; \rho_B)\) is the inverse Laplace transform of the frequency-domain radiation (boundary) kernel \[ \widehat\omega_\ell(\sigma;\rho_B)= \sigma\rho_B W_\ell'(\tau\rho_B; \sigma)/W_\ell(\sigma\rho_B; \sigma). \] The radiation outer boundary conditions are written as an integral convolution between \(\omega_\ell(\tau;\rho_B)\) and each of the corresponding \(2\ell+1\) modes \(\psi_{\ell m}(\psi,\rho_B)\) of the radiating field of \(\psi(\tau,\rho,\theta,\phi)\), where \(\psi\) is \(U\) but expressed in terms of different coordinates. Afterward the key representation on \(\widehat\omega_\ell(\sigma;\rho_B)\) as a sum of poles is given. A brief issue of approximating \(\widehat\omega_\ell(\sigma;\rho_B)\) by rational function is given. Section 3 describes numerical evaluation of both \(W_\ell(\sigma\rho_B;\sigma)\) and \(\widehat\omega_\ell(\sigma; \rho_B)\), with the former considered as a function of complex Laplace frequency \(\sigma\) and the latter as a function of purely imaginary \(\sigma= iy\). Both types of evaluation rely on numerical integration over certain path in the complex plane. Several numerical methods are considered, but the main ones involve path integration in terms of a complex variable \(z= \sigma\rho\). In this section the accuracy of the numerical method is also discussed. Section 4 focuses on the sum-of-poles representations of \(\widehat\omega_\ell(\tau;\rho_B)\). The first subsection is a qualitative description of the analytic structure of \(W_\ell(\sigma\rho_B;\sigma)\) the second subsection presents the direct numerical construction of \(\widehat\omega_\ell(\sigma; \rho_B)\).