Gravitational Radiation from Black Holes

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。该项目的目标是实现一种新的计算方法来研究黑洞产生的引力波的性质。该方法使用最近与计算数学家合作开发并在模型问题上测试的技术来求解爱因斯坦方程。这些技术将进一步发展，成为许多参与黑洞碰撞计算机模拟的研究小组可用的社区工具。波，如水、声波和电磁波，是物理系统的一个显著特征。爱因斯坦引力理论的一个革命性预测是，加速质量产生引力波，类似于电荷产生电磁波的方式。引力波只是通过消耗两颗同轨道脉冲星的能量来间接探测到的。最近建造了一个激光干涉引力波天文台(LIGO)，它将通过直接探测这些引力波来潜在地开辟一种新的天文学形式。对黑洞碰撞的计算机模拟可以为LIGO天文台调谐引力信号和监测碰撞黑洞的动力学提供必要的理论细节。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The goal of this project is to implement a new computational method to study the properties of gravitational waves generated by black holes. The approach uses techniques for solving Einstein's equations which have been recently developed in collaboration with computational mathematicians and tested on model problems. These techniques will be further developed to serve as a community tool available to the many research groups involved in the computer simulation of black holes collisions.Waves, such as water, sound and electromagnetic waves, are a prominent feature of physical systems. A revolutionary prediction of Einstein's gravitational theory is that accelerated masses produce gravitational waves, analogous to the way electric charges produce electromagnetic waves. Gravitational waves have only been detected indirectly by the way they deplete energy from two co-orbiting pulsars. A Laser Interferometric Gravity Wave Observatory (LIGO) has recently been constructed that will potentially open up a new form of astronomy by directly detecting these gravitational waves. Computer simulations of black hole collisions can provide the theoretical details which are necessary for the LIGO observatory to tune in on the gravitational signal and monitor the dynamics of the colliding black holes.