Jeffrey D. Kaplan

Visualizing spacetime curvature via frame-drag vortexes and tidal tendexes: General theory and weak-gravity applications

When one splits spacetime into space plus time, the Weyl curvature tensor (vacuum Riemann tensor) gets split into two spatial, symmetric, and trace-free tensors: (i) the Weyl tensor’s so-called electric part or tidal field Ɛ_(jk), which raises tides on the Earth’s oceans and drives geodesic deviation (the relative acceleration of two freely falling test particles separated by a spatial vector ξ^k is Δa_j=-Ɛ_(jk)ξ^k), and (ii) the Weyl tensor’s so-called magnetic part or (as we call it) frame-drag field B_(jk), which drives differential frame dragging (the precessional angular velocity of a gyroscope at the tip of ξ^k, as measured using a local inertial frame at the tail of ξ^k, is ΔΩ_j=B_(jk)ξ^k). Being symmetric and trace-free, Ɛ_(jk) and B_(jk) each have three orthogonal eigenvector fields which can be depicted by their integral curves. We call the integral curves of Ɛ_(jk)’s eigenvectors tidal tendex lines or simply tendex lines, we call each tendex line’s eigenvalue its tendicity, and we give the name tendex to a collection of tendex lines with large tendicity. The analogous quantities for B_(jk) are frame-drag vortex lines or simply vortex lines, their vorticities, and their vortexes. These concepts are powerful tools for visualizing spacetime curvature. We build up physical intuition into them by applying them to a variety of weak-gravity phenomena: a spinning, gravitating point particle, two such particles side-by-side, a plane gravitational wave, a point particle with a dynamical current-quadrupole moment or dynamical mass-quadrupole moment, and a slow-motion binary system made of nonspinning point particles. We show that a rotating current quadrupole has four rotating vortexes that sweep outward and backward like water streams from a rotating sprinkler. As they sweep, the vortexes acquire accompanying tendexes and thereby become outgoing current-quadrupole gravitational waves. We show similarly that a rotating mass quadrupole has four rotating, outward-and-backward sweeping tendexes that acquire accompanying vortexes as they sweep, and become outgoing mass-quadrupole gravitational waves. We show, further, that an oscillating current quadrupole ejects sequences of vortex loops that acquire accompanying tendex loops as they travel, and become current-quadrupole gravitational waves; and similarly for an oscillating mass quadrupole. And we show how a binary’s tendex lines transition, as one moves radially, from those of two static point particles in the deep near zone, to those of a single spherical body in the outer part of the near zone and inner part of the wave zone (where the binary’s mass monopole moment dominates), to those of a rotating quadrupole in the far wave zone (where the quadrupolar gravitational waves dominate). In Paper II we will use these vortex and tendex concepts to gain insight into the quasinormal modes of black holes, and in subsequent papers, by combining these concepts with numerical simulations, we will explore the nonlinear dynamics of curved spacetime around colliding black holes. We have published a brief overview of these applications in R. Owen et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106 151101 (2011). We expect these vortex and tendex concepts to become powerful tools for general relativity research in a variety of topics.

Simulations of inspiraling and merging double neutron stars using the Spectral Einstein Code

We present results on the inspiral, merger, and postmerger evolution of a neutron star-neutron star (NSNS) system. Our results are obtained using the hybrid pseudospectral-finite volume Spectral Einstein Code (SpEC). To test our numerical methods, we evolve an equal-mass system for ≈22 orbits before merger. This waveform is the longest waveform obtained from fully general-relativistic simulations for NSNSs to date. Such long (and accurate) numerical waveforms are required to further improve semianalytical models used in gravitational wave data analysis, for example, the effective one body models. We discuss in detail the improvements to SpEC’s ability to simulate NSNS mergers, in particular mesh refined grids to better resolve the merger and postmerger phases. We provide a set of consistency checks and compare our results to NSNS merger simulations with the independent bam code. We find agreement between them, which increases confidence in results obtained with either code. This work paves the way for future studies using long waveforms and more complex microphysical descriptions of neutron star matter in SpEC.

Gravitational waveforms for neutron star binaries from binary black hole simulations

Gravitational waves from binary neutron star (BNS) and black-hole/neutron star (BHNS) inspirals are primary sources for detection by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. The tidal forces acting on the neutron stars induce changes in the phase evolution of the gravitational waveform, and these changes can be used to constrain the nuclear equation of state. Current methods of generating BNS and BHNS waveforms rely on either computationally challenging full 3D hydrodynamical simulations or approximate analytic solutions. We introduce a new method for computing inspiral waveforms for BNS/BHNS systems by adding the post-Newtonian (PN) tidal effects to full numerical simulations of binary black holes (BBHs), effectively replacing the non-tidal terms in the PN expansion with BBH results. Comparing a waveform generated with this method against a full hydrodynamical simulation of a BNS inspiral yields a phase difference of < 1 radian over ~ 15 orbits. The numerical phase accuracy required of BNS simulations to measure the accuracy of the method we present here is estimated as a function of the tidal deformability parameter ⋋.

Toroidal horizons in binary black hole inspirals

We examine the structure of the event horizon for numerical simulations of two black holes that begin in a quasicircular orbit, inspiral, and finally merge. We find that the spatial cross section of the merged event horizon has spherical topology (to the limit of our resolution), despite the expectation that generic binary black hole mergers in the absence of symmetries should result in an event horizon that briefly has a toroidal cross section. Using insight gained from our numerical simulations, we investigate how the choice of time slicing affects both the spatial cross section of the event horizon and the locus of points at which generators of the event horizon cross. To ensure the robustness of our conclusions, our results are checked at multiple numerical resolutions. Three-dimensional visualization data for these resolutions are available for public access online. We find that the structure of the horizon generators in our simulations is consistent with expectations, and the lack of toroidal horizons in our simulations is due to our choice of time slicing.