Merging black holes with Cauchy-characteristic matching: Computation of late-time tails

Creators: Ma, Sizheng¹; Scheel, Mark A.²; Moxon, Jordan²; Nelli, Kyle C.²; Deppe, Nils³; Kidder, Lawrence E.³; Throwe, William³; Vu, Nils L.²

1. Perimeter Institute
2. California Institute of Technology
3. Cornell University

Abstract

Cauchy-characteristic matching (CCM) is a numerical-relativity technique that solves Einstein’s equations on an effectively infinite computational domain, thereby eliminating systematic errors associated with artificial boundary conditions. Whether CCM can robustly handle fully nonlinear, dynamical spacetimes, such as binary black hole (BBH) mergers, has remained an open question. In this work, we provide a positive answer by presenting nine successful CCM simulations of BBHs, and demonstrate a key application of this method: computing late-time tails. Our results pave the path for systematic studies of late-time tails in BBH systems, and for producing highly accurate waveforms essential to next-generation gravitational-wave detectors.

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Acknowledgement

S. M. would like to thank Luis Lehner, Conner Dailey, and Eric Poisson for useful discussions. Research at Perimeter Institute is supported in part by the Government of Canada through the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and by the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Colleges and Universities. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. PHY-2407742, No. PHY-2207342, and No. OAC-2209655 at Cornell. This work was supported by the Sherman Fairchild Foundation at Cornell. This work was supported in part by the Sherman Fairchild Foundation and by NSF Grants No. PHY-2309211, No. PHY-2309231, and No. OAC-2209656 at Caltech. The computations presented here were conducted in the Resnick High Performance Computing Center, a facility supported by Resnick Sustainability Institute at the California Institute of Technology.

Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this article are openly available [145].

Additional Information

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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