Improvements to the construction of binary black hole initial data. (3rd December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ossokine, Serguei; Foucart, Francois; Pfeiffer, Harald P; Boyle, Michael; Szilágyi, Béla
• Is Part Of: Classical and quantum gravity. Volume 32:Number 24(2015:Dec.)
• Publication Date: 2015-12-03
• Subjects: numerical relativity -- wave generation and sources -- classical black holes; 04.25.Dm -- 04.30.Db -- 04.70.Bw; Quantum gravity -- Periodicals; Gravitation -- Periodicals; Relativity (Physics) -- Periodicals; Space and time -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 521.1
• DOI: 10.1088/0264-9381/32/24/245010
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0264-9381

Abstract

Abstract: 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 construction of initial data for mass-ratio above 10:1, and for dimensionless black hole spins above 0.9, while improving efficiency for lower mass-ratios and spins. We implement a more flexible domain decomposition, adaptive mesh refinement and an updated method for choosing free parameters. We also introduce a new method to control and eliminate residual linear momentum in initial data for precessing systems, and demonstrate that it eliminates gravitational mode mixing during the evolution. Finally, the new code is applied to construct initial data for hyperbolic scattering and for binaries with very small separation.