Black Holes and Gravitational Waves

这个项目的动机是引力波最有趣的来源：一对双黑洞的灵感。黑洞最终相互碰撞，并合并形成一个最终的洞，必须用数值相对论的超级计算机方法来处理，但这些方法不能处理双星在碰撞/合并之前的时代：黑洞在许多轨道上强烈相互作用，但沿着接近圆形的轨道运行。我们将使用一种不寻常的近似方案（“周期性驻波近似”）和创新的数学/计算方法（“适应坐标”）来研究双星的这个时代。近似方法的结果不仅可以让我们了解合并前的天体物理学，而且可以为数值相对论的计算提供最佳的起点，从而为数值相对论的工作提供重要的支持。此外，这项工作的副产品将是可能在其他领域找到适用性的新的近似/计算方法。这项工作将在该国一个服务不足地区的一所新大学进行；大学最前沿的科学研究活动有助于为学生提供榜样，鼓励他们考虑从事科学事业。

This project is motivated by the most interesting source of gravitational waves: the inspiral of a binary pair of black holes. The final plunge of the holes toward each other, and the merger to form one final hole, must be handled by the supercomputer methods of numerical relativity, but those methods cannot handle the epoch of the binary before the plunge/merger: the many orbits in which the black holes strongly interact, but follow nearly circular orbits. This epoch of the binary will be studied using an unusual approximation scheme (the "periodic standing wave approximation") and with innovative mathematical/computational methods ("adapted coordinates").The results of the approximation method will not only let us understand the pre-merger astrophysics, but will give crucial support to the work in numerical relativity by providing the best possible starting point for numerical relativity computations. In addition, spin-offs of the work will be new approximation/computational methods that are likely to find applicability in other fields. This work will be carried out in a very new university in an underserved region of the country; the presence of forefront scientific research activity at the university helps to provide role models for students to encourage them to consider careers in science.