Simulating merging binary black holes with nearly extremal spins

Journal Article · Sat Jan 15 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.83.024010· OSTI ID:21503957

Lovelace, Geoffrey ^[1]; Scheel, Mark A; Szilagyi, Bela ^[2]

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1. Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853 (United States)
2. Theoretical Astrophysics 350-17, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125 (United States)

Astrophysically realistic black holes may have spins that are nearly extremal (i.e., close to 1 in dimensionless units). Numerical simulations of binary black holes are important tools both for calibrating analytical templates for gravitational-wave detection and for exploring the nonlinear dynamics of curved spacetime. However, all previous simulations of binary-black-hole inspiral, merger, and ringdown have been limited by an apparently insurmountable barrier: the merging holes' spins could not exceed 0.93, which is still a long way from the maximum possible value in terms of the physical effects of the spin. In this paper, we surpass this limit for the first time, opening the way to explore numerically the behavior of merging, nearly extremal black holes. Specifically, using an improved initial-data method suitable for binary black holes with nearly extremal spins, we simulate the inspiral (through 12.5 orbits), merger and ringdown of two equal-mass black holes with equal spins of magnitude 0.95 antialigned with the orbital angular momentum.

• OSTI ID: 21503957
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 83, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.83.024010; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
BINARY STARS
BLACK HOLES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
GRAVITATIONAL WAVE DETECTORS
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
MASS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
ORBITAL ANGULAR MOMENTUM
ORBITS
SPACE-TIME
SPIN
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
RADIATION DETECTORS
SIMULATION
STARS