Quasiequilibrium BH-BH and NS-BH binary initial data

该奖项支持开发构建黑洞/黑洞和中子星/黑洞双星系统的初始数据的方法，这些系统在天体物理学上越来越现实。 努力将集中在准平衡和准圆轨道的二元系统的问题。 目前的方法将被广泛测试，以构建等质量的二元黑洞的初始数据集之前，这些技术扩展到建设不等质量的初始数据集。 构造中子星的能力将被纳入初始数据代码，并将构造包含中子星星和黑洞的一致准平衡二元模型。一个目标是扩展当前的初始数据技术，使其能够计算准平衡的“共形三几何”。一对轨道黑洞或中子星的碰撞是一个戏剧性的事件，可能很快就会被LIGO和丽莎等引力波天文台探测到。 从紧凑的二进制初始数据开始的模拟，就像在这个奖项下建造的那样，将为解释LIGO获得的大部分数据提供理论基础。 LIGO对黑洞事件的探测将为它们的存在提供最直接的证据，而对引力波的观测将为探索宇宙开辟一个令人兴奋的新窗口。 该奖项将允许改进构建黑洞和中子星初始数据的技术和数值工具，并探索有趣的解决方案。 这些技术和数字代码的发展将为本科生和研究生水平的学生和研究人员提供一个很好的培训基地。 根据该奖项开发的代码将针对最新一代超级计算机进行优化，并在科学界提供。

This award supports the development of methods of constructing initial data for black-hole/black-hole and neutron-star/black-hole binary systems that are increasingly astrophysically realistic. Effort will focus on the problem of binary systems that are in quasiequilibrium and in quasi-circular orbits. Current methods will be extensively tested for constructing equal-mass binary black hole initial data sets prior to extending these techniques to the construction of unequal-mass initial data sets. The ability to construct neutron stars will be incorporated into the initial data codes and consistent quasiequilibrium binary models containing both a neutron star and a black hole will be constructed. One goal will be to extend current initial-data techniques to allow them to compute a quasiequilibrium "conformal three-geometry".The collision of a pair of orbiting black holes or neutron stars is a dramatic event that may soon be detected by gravitational wave observatories such as LIGO and LISA. Simulations, starting from compact binary initial data, like that constructed under this award, will provide the theoretical foundation for interpreting much of the data obtained by LIGO. The detection of black holes events with LIGO will offer the most direct evidence possible for their existence, and the observation of gravitational waves in general will open up an exciting new window for exploring the universe. This award will allow improvement of the techniques and numerical tools for constructing black-hole and neutron-star initial data and explore the space of interesting solutions. The development of these techniques and numerical codes will provide an excellent training ground for students and researchers at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The codes developed under this award will be optimized for the latest generation of supercomputers, and made available within the scientific community.