Testing numerical evolution with the shifted gauge wave

DOI10.1088/0264-9381/23/16/S03zbMATH Open1191.83002arXivgr-qc/0511154OpenAlexW1976643578MaRDI QIDQ5486403FDOQ5486403

Jeffrey Winicour, Béla Szilágyi, Maria C. Babiuc

Publication date: 6 September 2006

Published in: Classical and Quantum Gravity (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Computational methods are essential to provide waveforms from coalescing black holes, which are expected to produce strong signals for the gravitational wave observatories being developed. Although partial simulations of the coalescence have been reported, scientifically useful waveforms have so far not been delivered. The goal of the AppleswithApples (AwA) Alliance is to design, coordinate and document standardized code tests for comparing numerical relativity codes. The first round of AwA tests have now being completed and the results are being analyzed. These initial tests are based upon periodic boundary conditions designed to isolate performance of the main evolution code. Here we describe and carry out an additional test with periodic boundary conditions which deals with an essential feature of the black hole excision problem, namely a non-vanishing shift. The test is a shifted version of the existing AwA gauge wave test. We show how a shift introduces an exponentially growing instability which violates the constraints of a standard harmonic formulation of Einstein's equations. We analyze the Cauchy problem in a harmonic gauge and discuss particular options for suppressing instabilities in the gauge wave tests. We implement these techniques in a finite difference evolution algorithm and present test results. Although our application here is limited to a model problem, the techniques should benefit the simulation of black holes using harmonic evolution codes.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0511154

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Gravitational waves (83C35) Computational methods for problems pertaining to relativity and gravitational theory (83-08)

Cited In (3)

• Key elements of robustness in binary black hole evolutions using spectral methods
• Finite difference methods for second order in space, first order in time hyperbolic systems and the linear shifted wave equation as a model problem in numerical relativity
• Continuum and discrete initial-boundary value problems and Einstein's field equations

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