Numerical Relativity and the Discovery of Gravitational Waves

Abstract

Solving Einstein's equations precisely for strong-field gravitational systems is essential to determining the full physics content of gravitational wave detections. Without these solutions it is not possible to infer precise values for initial and final-state system parameters. Obtaining these solutions requires extensive numerical simulations, as Einstein's equations governing these systems are much too difficult to solve analytically. These difficulties arise principally from the curved, non-linear nature of spacetime in general relativity. Developing the numerical capabilities needed to produce reliable, efficient calculations has required a Herculean 50-year effort involving hundreds of researchers using sophisticated physical insight, algorithm development, computational technique and computers that are a billion times more capable than they were in 1964 when computations were first attempted. My purpose is to give an accessible overview for non-experts of the major developments that have made such dramatic progress possible.

14 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (13)

• GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
• Advanced LIGO
• GW170817: Measurements of Neutron Star Radii and Equation of State
• First higher-multipole model of gravitational waves from spinning and coalescing black-hole binaries
• The Kerr Metric
• Extraction of Gravitational Waves in Numerical Relativity
• Comparisons of binary black hole merger waveforms
• Numerical Relativity and Astrophysics
• A Search for Tensor, Vector, and Scalar Polarizations in the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background
• The basic physics of the binary black hole merger GW150914
• Modeling the source of GW150914 with targeted numerical-relativity simulations
• The numerical relativity breakthrough for binary black holes
• Are moving punctures equivalent to moving black holes?

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Computational Techniques for Parameter Estimation of Gravitational Wave Signals
• First-post-Newtonian generation of gravitational waves in Einstein-Cartan theory