Notes on the integration of numerical relativity waveforms

Christian Reisswig; Denis Pollney

doi:10.1088/0264-9381/28/19/195015

paper

Notes on the integration of numerical relativity waveforms

arXiv:1006.1632 · doi:10.1088/0264-9381/28/19/195015

Abstract

A primary goal of numerical relativity is to provide estimates of the wave strain, $h$ , from strong gravitational wave sources, to be used in detector templates. The simulations, however, typically measure waves in terms of the Weyl curvature component, $ψ_{4}$ . Assuming Bondi gauge, transforming to the strain $h$ reduces to integration of $ψ_{4}$ twice in time. Integrations performed in either the time or frequency domain, however, lead to secular non-linear drifts in the resulting strain $h$ . These non-linear drifts are not explained by the two unknown integration constants which can at most result in linear drifts. We identify a number of fundamental difficulties which can arise from integrating finite length, discretely sampled and noisy data streams. These issues are an artifact of post-processing data. They are independent of the characteristics of the original simulation, such as gauge or numerical method used. We suggest, however, a simple procedure for integrating numerical waveforms in the frequency domain, which is effective at strongly reducing spurious secular non-linear drifts in the resulting strain.

23 pages, 10 figures, matches final published version

Notes on the integration of numerical relativity waveforms

Abstract

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