27 research outputs found
Computing and analyzing gravitational radiation in black hole simulations using a new multi-block approach to numerical relativity
Numerical simulations of Kerr black holes are presented and the excitation of quasinormal modes is studied in detail. Issues concerning the extraction of gravitational waves from numerical space-times and analyzing them in a systematic way are discussed. A new multi-block infrastructure for solving first order symmetric hyperbolic time dependent partial differential equations is developed and implemented in a way that stability is guaranteed for arbitrary high order accurate numerical schemes. Multi-block methods make use of several coordinate patches to cover a computational domain. This provides efficient, flexible and very accurate numerical schemes. Using this code, three dimensional simulations of perturbed Kerr black holes are carried out. While the quasinormal frequencies for such sources are well known, until now little attention has been payed to the relative excitation strength of different modes. If an actual perturbed Kerr black hole emits two distinct quasinormal modes that are strong enough to be detected by gravitational wave observatories, these two modes can be used to test the Kerr nature of the source. This would provide a strong test of the so called no hair theorem of general relativity. A systematic method for analyzing ringdown waveforms is proposed. The so called time shift problem, an ambiguity in the definition of excitation amplitudes, is identified and it is shown that this problem can be avoided by looking at appropriately chosen relative mode amplitudes. Rotational mode coupling, the relative excitation strength of co- and counter rotating modes and overtones for slowly and rapidly spinning Kerr black holes are studied. A method for extracting waves from numerical space-times which generalizes one of the standard methods based on the Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli perturbation formalism is presented. Applying this to evolutions of single perturbed Schwarzschild black holes, the accuracy of the new method is compared to the standard approach and it is found that the errors resulting from the former are one to several orders of magnitude below the ones from the latter. It is demonstrated that even at large extraction radii (r=80M), the standard extraction approach produces errors that are dominantly of systematic nature and not due to numerical inaccuracies
A multi-block infrastructure for three-dimensional time-dependent numerical relativity
We describe a generic infrastructure for time evolution simulations in
numerical relativity using multiple grid patches. After a motivation of this
approach, we discuss the relative advantages of global and patch-local tensor
bases. We describe both our multi-patch infrastructure and our time evolution
scheme, and comment on adaptive time integrators and parallelisation. We also
describe various patch system topologies that provide spherical outer and/or
multiple inner boundaries.
We employ penalty inter-patch boundary conditions, and we demonstrate the
stability and accuracy of our three-dimensional implementation. We solve both a
scalar wave equation on a stationary rotating black hole background and the
full Einstein equations. For the scalar wave equation, we compare the effects
of global and patch-local tensor bases, different finite differencing
operators, and the effect of artificial dissipation onto stability and
accuracy. We show that multi-patch systems can directly compete with the
so-called fixed mesh refinement approach; however, one can also combine both.
For the Einstein equations, we show that using multiple grid patches with
penalty boundary conditions leads to a robustly stable system. We also show
long-term stable and accurate evolutions of a one-dimensional non-linear gauge
wave. Finally, we evolve weak gravitational waves in three dimensions and
extract accurate waveforms, taking advantage of the spherical shape of our grid
lines.Comment: 18 pages. Some clarifications added, figure layout improve
The Asymptotic Falloff of Local Waveform Measurements in Numerical Relativity
We examine current numerical relativity computations of gravitational waves,
which typically determine the asymptotic waves at infinity by extrapolation
from finite (small) radii. Using simulations of a black hole binary with
accurate wave extraction at , we show that extrapolations from the
near-zone are self-consistent in approximating measurements at this radius,
although with a somewhat reduced accuracy. We verify that is the
dominant asymptotic contribution to the gravitational energy (as required by
the peeling theorem) but point out that gauge effects may complicate the
interpretation of the other Weyl components
The final spin from the coalescence of aligned-spin black-hole binaries
Determining the final spin of a black-hole (BH) binary is a question of key
importance in astrophysics. Modelling this quantity in general is made
difficult by the fact that it depends on the 7-dimensional space of parameters
characterizing the two initial black holes. However, in special cases, when
symmetries can be exploited, the description can become simpler. For black-hole
binaries with unequal masses but with equal spins which are aligned with the
orbital angular momentum, we show that the use of recent simulations and basic
but exact constraints derived from the extreme mass-ratio limit allow to model
this quantity with a simple analytic expression. Despite the simple dependence,
the expression models very accurately all of the available estimates, with
errors of a couple of percent at most. We also discuss how to use the fit to
predict when a Schwarzschild BH is produced by the merger of two spinning BHs,
when the total angular momentum of the spacetime ``flips'' sign, or under what
conditions the final BH is ``spun-up'' by the merger. Finally, suggest an
extension of the fit to include unequal-spin binaries, thus potentially
providing a complete description of the final spin from the coalescence of
generic black-hole binaries with spins aligned to the orbital angular momentum.Comment: Version matching the published one; small changes throughout to fit
space constraints; corrects error in vii) about spin-up/dow
Optimized high-order derivative and dissipation operators satisfying summation by parts, and applications in three-dimensional multi-block evolutions
We construct optimized high-order finite differencing operators which satisfy summation by parts. Since these operators are not uniquely defined, we consider several optimization criteria: minimizing the bandwidth, the truncation error on the boundary points, the spectral radius, or a combination of these. We examine in detail a set of operators that are up to tenth order accurate in the interior, and we surprisingly find that a combination of these optimizations can improve the operators\u27 spectral radius and accuracy by orders of magnitude in certain cases. We also construct high-order dissipation operators that are compatible with these new finite difference operators and which are semi-definite with respect to the appropriate summation by parts scalar product. We test the stability and accuracy of these new difference and dissipation operators by evolving a three-dimensional scalar wave equation on a spherical domain consisting of seven blocks, each discretized with a structured grid, and connected through penalty boundary conditions. In particular, we find that the constructed dissipation operators are effective in suppressing instabilities that are sometimes otherwise present in the restricted full norm case. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007
Spin Diagrams for Equal-Mass Black-Hole Binaries with Aligned Spins
Binary black-hole systems with spins aligned with the orbital angular
momentum are of special interest as they may be the preferred end-state of the
inspiral of generic supermassive binary black-hole systems. In view of this, we
have computed the inspiral and merger of a large set of binary systems of
equal-mass black holes with spins aligned with the orbital angular momentum but
otherwise arbitrary. By least-square fitting the results of these simulations
we have constructed two "spin diagrams" which provide straightforward
information about the recoil velocity |v_kick| and the final black-hole spin
a_fin in terms of the dimensionless spins a_1 and a_2 of the two initial black
holes. Overall they suggest a maximum recoil velocity of |v_kick|=441.94 km/s,
and minimum and maximum final spins a_fin=0.3471 and a_fin=0.9591,
respectively.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figs; small changes matching published versio
Gravitational-wave detectability of equal-mass black-hole binaries with aligned spins
Binary black-hole systems with spins aligned or anti-aligned to the orbital
angular momentum provide the natural ground to start detailed studies of the
influence of strong-field spin effects on gravitational wave observations of
coalescing binaries. Furthermore, such systems may be the preferred end-state
of the inspiral of generic supermassive binary black-hole systems. In view of
this, we have computed the inspiral and merger of a large set of binary systems
of equal-mass black holes with spins parallel to the orbital angular momentum
but otherwise arbitrary. Our attention is particularly focused on the
gravitational-wave emission so as to quantify how much spin effects contribute
to the signal-to-noise ratio, to the horizon distances, and to the relative
event rates for the representative ranges in masses and detectors. As expected,
the signal-to-noise ratio increases with the projection of the total black hole
spin in the direction of the orbital momentum. We find that equal-spin binaries
with maximum spin aligned with the orbital angular momentum are more than
"three times as loud" as the corresponding binaries with anti-aligned spins,
thus corresponding to event rates up to 30 times larger. We also consider the
waveform mismatch between the different spinning configurations and find that,
within our numerical accuracy, binaries with opposite spins S_1=-S_2 cannot be
distinguished whereas binaries with spin S_1=S_2 have clearly distinct
gravitational-wave emissions. Finally, we derive a simple expression for the
energy radiated in gravitational waves and find that the binaries always have
efficiencies E_rad/M > 3.6%, which can become as large as E_rad/M = 10% for
maximally spinning binaries with spins aligned with the orbital angular
momentum.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, matches published versio
Faithful Effective-One-Body waveforms of equal-mass coalescing black-hole binaries
We continue the program of constructing, within the Effective-One-Body (EOB)
approach, high-accuracy analytic waveforms describing the signal emitted by
inspiralling and coalescing black hole binaries. Here, we compare a recently
derived, resummed 3 PN-accurate EOB quadrupolar waveform to the results of a
numerical simulation of the inspiral and merger of an equal-mass black hole
binary. We find a remarkable agreement, both in phase and in amplitude, with a
maximal dephasing which can be reduced below gravitational-wave
(GW) cycles over 12 GW cycles corresponding to the end of the inspiral, the
plunge, the merger and the beginning of the ringdown. This level of agreement
is shown for two different values of the effective 4 PN parameter a_5, and for
corresponding, appropriately "flexed" values of the radiation-reaction
resummation parameter v_pole. In addition, our resummed EOB amplitude agrees to
better than the 1% level with the numerical-relativity one up to the late
inspiral. These results, together with other recent work on the
EOB-numerical-relativity comparison, confirm the ability of the EOB formalism
to faithfully capture the general relativistic waveforms.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. Small changes. Version published in Phys. Rev.
High accuracy binary black hole simulations with an extended wave zone
We present results from a new code for binary black hole evolutions using the
moving-puncture approach, implementing finite differences in generalised
coordinates, and allowing the spacetime to be covered with multiple
communicating non-singular coordinate patches. Here we consider a regular
Cartesian near zone, with adapted spherical grids covering the wave zone. The
efficiencies resulting from the use of adapted coordinates allow us to maintain
sufficient grid resolution to an artificial outer boundary location which is
causally disconnected from the measurement. For the well-studied test-case of
the inspiral of an equal-mass non-spinning binary (evolved for more than 8
orbits before merger), we determine the phase and amplitude to numerical
accuracies better than 0.010% and 0.090% during inspiral, respectively, and
0.003% and 0.153% during merger. The waveforms, including the resolved higher
harmonics, are convergent and can be consistently extrapolated to
throughout the simulation, including the merger and ringdown. Ringdown
frequencies for these modes (to ) match perturbative
calculations to within 0.01%, providing a strong confirmation that the remnant
settles to a Kerr black hole with irreducible mass and spin $S_f/M_f^2 = 0.686923 \pm 10\times10^{-6}