551 research outputs found
General-relativistic resistive-magnetohydrodynamic simulations of binary neutron stars
We have studied the dynamics of an equal-mass magnetized neutron-star binary
within a resistive magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) approach in which the highly
conducting stellar interior is matched to an electrovacuum exterior. Because
our analysis is aimed at assessing the modifications introduced by resistive
effects on the dynamics of the binary after the merger and through to collapse,
we have carried out a close comparison with an equivalent simulation performed
within the traditional ideal magnetohydrodynamic approximation. We have found
that there are many similarities between the two evolutions but also one
important difference: the survival time of the hyper massive neutron star
increases in a RMHD simulation. This difference is due to a less efficient
magnetic-braking mechanism in the resistive regime, in which matter can move
across magnetic-field lines, thus reducing the outward transport of angular
momentum. Both the RMHD and the ideal magnetohydrodynamic simulations carried
here have been performed at higher resolutions and with a different grid
structure than those in previous work of ours [L. Rezzolla, B. Giacomazzo, L.
Baiotti, J. Granot, C. Kouveliotou, and M. A. Aloy, Astrophys. J. Letters 732,
L6 (2011)], but confirm the formation of a low-density funnel with an ordered
magnetic field produced by the black hole--torus system. In both regimes the
magnetic field is predominantly toroidal in the highly conducting torus and
predominantly poloidal in the nearly evacuated funnel. Reconnection processes
or neutrino annihilation occurring in the funnel, none of which we model, could
potentially increase the internal energy in the funnel and launch a
relativistic outflow, which, however, is not produced in these simulations.Comment: 26 pages, 17 figures; animations available at
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~kd10g13/movies/index.shtm
An explicit harmonic code for black-hole evolution using excision
We describe an explicit in time, finite-difference code designed to simulate black holes by using the excision method. The code is based upon the harmonic formulation of the Einstein equations and incorporates several features regarding the well-posedness and numerical stability of the initial-boundary problem for the quasilinear wave equation. After a discussion of the equations solved and of the techniques employed, we present a series of testbeds carried out to validate the code. Such tests range from the evolution of isolated black holes to the head-on collision of two black holes and then to a binary black hole inspiral and merger. Besides assessing the accuracy of the code, the inspiral and merger test has revealed that individual apparent horizons can touch and even intersect. This novel feature in the dynamics of the marginally trapped surfaces is unexpected but consistent with theorems on the properties of apparent horizons
Quasi-periodic Oscillations in the X-ray Light Curves from Relativistic Tori
We use a relativistic ray-tracing code to analyze the X-ray emission from a
pressure-supported oscillating relativistic torus around a black hole. We show
that a strong correlation exists between the {\it intrinsic} frequencies of the
torus normal modes and the {\it extrinsic} frequencies seen in the observed
light curve power spectrum. This correlation demonstrates the feasibility of
the oscillating-torus model to explain the multiple peaks seen in black hole
high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations. Using an optically thin,
monochromatic emission model, we also determine how a relativistically
broadened emission line and the amplitude of the X-ray modulations are
dependent on the observer's inclination angle and on the torus oscillation
amplitudes. Observations of these features can provide important information
about the torus as well as the black hole.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to ApJ
Computing Fast and Reliable Gravitational Waveforms of Binary Neutron Star Merger Remnants
Gravitational waves have been detected from the inspiral of a binary
neutron-star, GW170817, which allowed constraints to be placed on the neutron
star equation of state. The equation of state can be further constrained if
gravitational waves from a post-merger remnant are detected. Post-merger
waveforms are currently generated by numerical-relativity simulations, which
are computationally expensive. Here we introduce a hierarchical model trained
on numerical-relativity simulations, which can generate reliable post-merger
spectra in a fraction of a second. Our spectra have mean fitting factors of
0.95, which compares to fitting factors of 0.76 and 0.85 between different
numerical-relativity codes that simulate the same physical system. This method
is the first step towards generating large template banks of spectra for use in
post-merger detection and parameter estimation.Comment: Submitted to PRL. 6 pages, 4 figure
Will black hole-neutron star binary inspirals tell us about the neutron star equation of state?
The strong tidal forces that arise during the last stages of the life of a
black hole-neutron star binary may severely distort, and possibly disrupt, the
star. Both phenomena will imprint signatures about the stellar structure in the
emitted gravitational radiation. The information from the disruption, however,
is confined to very high frequencies, where detectors are not very sensitive.
We thus assess whether the lack of tidal distortion corrections in
data-analysis pipelines will affect the detection of the inspiral part of the
signal and whether these may yield information on the equation of state of
matter at nuclear densities. Using recent post-Newtonian expressions and
realistic equations of state to model these scenarios, we find that
point-particle templates are sufficient for the detection of black hole-neutron
star inspiralling binaries, with a loss of signals below 1% for both second and
third-generation detectors. Such detections may be able to constrain
particularly stiff equations of state, but will be unable to reveal the
presence of a neutron star with a soft equation of state.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Dynamical Mass Ejection from Binary Neutron Star Mergers
We present fully general-relativistic simulations of binary neutron star
mergers with a temperature and composition dependent nuclear equation of state.
We study the dynamical mass ejection from both quasi-circular and
dynamical-capture eccentric mergers. We systematically vary the level of our
treatment of the microphysics to isolate the effects of neutrino cooling and
heating and we compute the nucleosynthetic yields of the ejecta. We find that
eccentric binaries can eject significantly more material than quasi-circular
binaries and generate bright infrared and radio emission. In all our
simulations the outflow is composed of a combination of tidally- and
shock-driven ejecta, mostly distributed over a broad angle from
the orbital plane, and, to a lesser extent, by thermally driven winds at high
latitudes. Ejecta from eccentric mergers are typically more neutron rich than
those of quasi-circular mergers. We find neutrino cooling and heating to
affect, quantitatively and qualitatively, composition, morphology, and total
mass of the outflows. This is also reflected in the infrared and radio
signatures of the binary. The final nucleosynthetic yields of the ejecta are
robust and insensitive to input physics or merger type in the regions of the
second and third r-process peaks. The yields for elements on the first peak
vary between our simulations, but none of our models is able to explain the
Solar abundances of first-peak elements without invoking additional first-peak
contributions from either neutrino and viscously-driven winds operating on
longer timescales after the mergers, or from core-collapse supernovae.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures. We corrected a problem in the formulation of
the neutrino heating scheme and re-ran all of the affected models. The main
conclusions are unchanged. This version also contains one more figure and a
number of improvements on the tex
Accurate evolutions of inspiralling and magnetized neutron-stars: equal-mass binaries
By performing new, long and numerically accurate general-relativistic
simulations of magnetized, equal-mass neutron-star binaries, we investigate the
role that realistic magnetic fields may have in the evolution of these systems.
In particular, we study the evolution of the magnetic fields and show that they
can influence the survival of the hypermassive-neutron star produced at the
merger by accelerating its collapse to a black hole. We also provide evidence
that even if purely poloidal initially, the magnetic fields produced in the
tori surrounding the black hole have toroidal and poloidal components of
equivalent strength. When estimating the possibility that magnetic fields could
have an impact on the gravitational-wave signals emitted by these systems
either during the inspiral or after the merger we conclude that for realistic
magnetic-field strengths B<~1e12 G such effects could be detected, but only
marginally, by detectors such as advanced LIGO or advanced Virgo. However,
magnetically induced modifications could become detectable in the case of
small-mass binaries and with the development of gravitational-wave detectors,
such as the Einstein Telescope, with much higher sensitivities at frequencies
larger than ~2 kHz.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. Added two new figures (figures 1 and 7). Small
modifications to the text to match the version published on Phys. Rev.
Microphysics in Computational Relativistic Astrophysics - MICRA2009, Niels Bohr International Academy, Copenhagen, 24–28 August 2009
This special section is devoted to the workshop `Microphysics in Computational Relativistic Astrophysics - MICRA2009', which took place at the Niels Bohr International Academy, in Copenhagen, 24–28 August 2009
On the iterated Crank-Nicolson for hyperbolic and parabolic equations in numerical relativity
The iterated Crank-Nicolson is a predictor-corrector algorithm commonly used
in numerical relativity for the solution of both hyperbolic and parabolic
partial differential equations. We here extend the recent work on the stability
of this scheme for hyperbolic equations by investigating the properties when
the average between the predicted and corrected values is made with unequal
weights and when the scheme is applied to a parabolic equation. We also propose
a variant of the scheme in which the coefficients in the averages are swapped
between two corrections leading to systematically larger amplification factors
and to a smaller numerical dispersion.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Accurate evolutions of inspiralling neutron-star binaries: assessment of the truncation error
We have recently presented an investigation in full general relativity of the
dynamics and gravitational-wave emission from binary neutron stars which
inspiral and merge, producing a black hole surrounded by a torus (see
arXiv:0804.0594). We here discuss in more detail the convergence properties of
the results presented in arXiv:0804.0594 and, in particular, the deterioration
of the convergence rate at the merger and during the survival of the merged
object, when strong shocks are formed and turbulence develops. We also show
that physically reasonable and numerically convergent results obtained at
low-resolution suffer however from large truncation errors and hence are of
little physical use. We summarize our findings in an "error budget", which
includes the different sources of possible inaccuracies we have investigated
and provides a first quantitative assessment of the precision in the modelling
of compact fluid binaries.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures. Minor changes to match published version. Added
figure 5 right pane
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