Summary of GR18 Numerical Relativity parallel sessions (B1/B2 and B2), Sydney, 8-13 July 2007

Abstract

The numerical relativity session at GR18 was dominated by physics results on binary black hole mergers. Several groups can now simulate these from a time when the post-Newtonian equations of motion are still applicable, through several orbits and the merger to the ringdown phase, obtaining plausible gravitational waves at infinity, and showing some evidence of convergence with resolution. The results of different groups roughly agree. This new-won confidence has been used by these groups to begin mapping out the (finite-dimensional) initial data space of the problem, with a particular focus on the effect of black hole spins, and the acceleration by gravitational wave recoil to hundreds of km/s of the final merged black hole. Other work was presented on a variety of topics, such as evolutions with matter, extreme mass ratio inspirals, and technical issues such as gauge choices.

References updated, to be published in CQG

References in corpus (23)

• Evolution of Binary Black Hole Spacetimes
• Accurate Evolutions of Orbiting Black-Hole Binaries Without Excision
• Gravitational wave extraction from an inspiraling configuration of merging black holes
• Coalescing binary systems of compact objects to (post)$^{5/2}-Newtonian order. V. Spin Effects
• A simple construction of initial data for multiple black holes
• Supermassive recoil velocities for binary black-hole mergers with antialigned spins
• Recoil Velocities from Equal-Mass Binary-Black-Hole Mergers
• Binary black-hole evolutions of excision and puncture data
• A constrained scheme for Einstein equations based on Dirac gauge and spherical coordinates
• Merger of black hole-neutron star binaries in full general relativity
• Binary black hole mergers: large kicks for generic spin orientations
• Binary Black Hole Mergers in 3d Numerical Relativity
• A multi-block infrastructure for three-dimensional time-dependent numerical relativity
• Relativistic MHD with Adaptive Mesh Refinement
• Scalar-field perturbations from a particle orbiting a black hole using numerical evolution in 2+1 dimensions
• Dynamical non-axisymmetric instabilities in rotating relativistic stars
• Black hole puncture initial data with realistic gravitational wave content
• Asymptotically null slices in numerical relativity: mathematical analysis and spherical wave equation tests
• A new spectral apparent horizon finder for 3D numerical relativity
• Models of helically symmetric binary systems
• Treating instabilities in a hyperbolic formulation of Einstein's equations
• Choptuik Scaling and The Merger Transition
• Long term stable integration of a maximally sliced Schwarzschild black hole using a smooth lattice method