Relativistic magnetohydrodynamics in dynamical spacetimes: Numerical methods and tests

Journal Article · Fri Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.72.024028· OSTI ID:20711150

Duez, Matthew D; Liu, Yuk Tung; Shapiro, Stuart L; Stephens, Branson C ^[1]

---

1. Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (United States)

Many problems at the forefront of theoretical astrophysics require the treatment of magnetized fluids in dynamical, strongly curved spacetimes. Such problems include the origin of gamma-ray bursts, magnetic braking of differential rotation in nascent neutron stars arising from stellar core collapse or binary neutron star merger, the formation of jets and magnetized disks around newborn black holes, etc. To model these phenomena, all of which involve both general relativity (GR) and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), we have developed a GRMHD code capable of evolving MHD fluids in dynamical spacetimes. Our code solves the Einstein-Maxwell-MHD system of coupled equations in axisymmetry and in full 3+1 dimensions. We evolve the metric by integrating the Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura equations, and use a conservative, shock-capturing scheme to evolve the MHD equations. Our code gives accurate results in standard MHD code-test problems, including magnetized shocks and magnetized Bondi flow. To test our code's ability to evolve the MHD equations in a dynamical spacetime, we study the perturbations of a homogeneous, magnetized fluid excited by a gravitational plane wave, and we find good agreement between the analytic and numerical solutions.

• OSTI ID: 20711150
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 72, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.72.024028; (c) 2005 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ASTROPHYSICS
BINARY STARS
BLACK HOLES
COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS
COSMOLOGY
DISTURBANCES
EINSTEIN-MAXWELL EQUATIONS
GENERAL RELATIVITY THEORY
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
NEUTRON STARS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
ROTATION
SPACE-TIME