arXiv subjects

Luciano Rezzolla

Publications and source records attributed to Luciano Rezzolla.

At least 235 records · Page 13Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

Dynamical damping terms for symmetry-seeking shift conditions

Suitable gauge conditions are fundamental for stable and accurate numerical-relativity simulations of inspiralling compact binaries. A number of well-studied conditions have been developed over the last decade for both the lapse and the shift and these have been successfully used both in vacuum and non-vacuum spacetimes when simulating binaries with comparable masses. At the same time, recent evidence has emerged that the standard "Gamma-driver" shift condition requires a careful and non-trivial tuning of its parameters to ensure long-term stable evolutions of unequal-mass binaries. We present a novel gauge condition in which the damping constant is promoted to be a dynamical variable and the solution of an evolution equation. We show that this choice removes the need for special tuning and provides a shift damping term which is free of instabilities in our simulations and dynamically adapts to the individual positions and masses of the binary black-hole system. Our gauge condition also reduces the variations in the coordinate size of the apparent horizon of the larger black hole and could therefore be useful when simulating binaries with very small mass ratios.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2010

Constraining scalar fields with stellar kinematics and collisional dark matter

The existence and detection of scalar fields could provide solutions to long-standing puzzles about the nature of dark matter, the dark compact objects at the centre of most galaxies, and other phenomena. Yet, self-interacting scalar fields are very poorly constrained by astronomical observations, leading to great uncertainties in estimates of the mass $m_ϕ$ and the self-interacting coupling constant $λ$ of these fields. To counter this, we have systematically employed available astronomical observations to develop new constraints, considerably restricting this parameter space. In particular, by exploiting precise observations of stellar dynamics at the centre of our Galaxy and assuming that these dynamics can be explained by a single boson star, we determine an upper limit for the boson star compactness and impose significant limits on the values of the properties of possible scalar fields. Requiring the scalar field particle to follow a collisional dark matter model further narrows these constraints. Most importantly, we find that if a scalar dark matter particle does exist, then it cannot account for both the dark-matter halos and the existence of dark compact objects in galactic nuclei

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

EM counterparts of recoiling black holes: general relativistic simulations of non-Keplerian discs

We investigate the dynamics of a circumbinary disc that responds to the loss of mass and to the recoil velocity of the black hole produced by the merger of a binary system of supermassive black holes. We perform the first two-dimensional general relativistic hydrodynamics simulations of \textit{extended} non-Keplerian discs and employ a new technique to construct a "shock detector", thus determining the precise location of the shocks produced in the accreting disc by the recoiling black hole. In this way we can study how the properties of the system, such as the spin, mass and recoil velocity of the black hole, affect the mass accretion rate and are imprinted on the electromagnetic emission from these sources. We argue that the estimates of the bremsstrahlung luminosity computed without properly taking into account the radiation transfer yield cooling times that are unrealistically short. At the same time we show, through an approximation based on the relativistic isothermal evolution, that the luminosity produced can reach a peak value above $L \simeq 10^{43} \ {\rm erg/s} $ at about $\sim 30\,{\rm d}$ after the merger of a binary with total mass $M\simeq 10^6 M_\odot$ and persist for several days at values which are a factor of a few smaller. If confirmed by more sophisticated calculations such a signal could indeed lead to an electromagnetic counterpart of the merger of binary black-hole system.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2010

Understanding the "anti-kick" in the merger of binary black holes

The generation of a large recoil velocity from the inspiral and merger of binary black holes represents one of the most exciting results of numerical-relativity calculations. While many aspects of this process have been investigated and explained, the "antikick", namely the sudden deceleration after the merger, has not yet found a simple explanation. We show that the antikick can be understood in terms of the radiation from a deformed black hole where the anisotropic curvature distribution on the horizon correlates with the direction and intensity of the recoil. Our analysis is focussed on Robinson-Trautman spacetimes and allows us to measure both the energies and momenta radiated in a gauge-invariant manner. At the same time, this simpler setup provides the qualitative and quantitative features of merging black holes, opening the way to a deeper understanding of the nonlinear dynamics of black-hole spacetimes.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2010

On the Shear Instability in Relativistic Neutron Stars

We present new results on instabilities in rapidly and differentially rotating neutron stars. We model the stars in full general relativity and describe the stellar matter adopting a cold realistic equation of state based on the unified SLy prescription. We provide evidence that rapidly and differentially rotating stars that are below the expected threshold for the dynamical bar-mode instability, beta_c = T/|W| ~ 0.25, do nevertheless develop a shear instability on a dynamical timescale and for a wide range of values of beta. This class of instability, which has so far been found only for small values of beta and with very small growth rates, is therefore more generic than previously found and potentially more effective in producing strong sources of gravitational waves. Overall, our findings support the phenomenological predictions made by Watts, Andersson and Jones on the nature of the low-T/|W|.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2010

Accurate evolutions of unequal-mass neutron-star binaries: properties of the torus and short GRB engines

We present new results from accurate and fully general-relativistic simulations of the coalescence of unmagnetized binary neutron stars with various mass ratios. The evolution of the stars is followed through the inspiral phase, the merger and prompt collapse to a black hole, up until the appearance of a thick accretion disk, which is studied as it enters and remains in a regime of quasi-steady accretion. Although a simple ideal-fluid equation of state with Γ=2 is used, this work presents a systematic study within a fully general relativistic framework of the properties of the resulting black-hole--torus system produced by the merger of unequal-mass binaries. More specifically, we show that: (1) The mass of the torus increases considerably with the mass asymmetry and equal-mass binaries do not produce significant tori if they have a total baryonic mass M_tot >~ 3.7 M_sun; (2) Tori with masses M_tor ~ 0.2 M_sun are measured for binaries with M_tot ~ 3.4 M_sun and mass ratios q ~ 0.75-0.85; (3) The mass of the torus can be estimated by the simple expression M_tor(q, M_tot) = [c_1 (1-q) + c_2](M_max-M_tot), involving the maximum mass for the binaries and coefficients constrained from the simulations, and suggesting that the tori can have masses as large as M_tor ~ 0.35 M_sun for M_tot ~ 2.8 M_sun and q ~ 0.75-0.85; (4) Using a novel technique to analyze the evolution of the tori we find no evidence for the onset of non-axisymmetric instabilities and that very little, if any, of their mass is unbound; (5) Finally, for all the binaries considered we compute the complete gravitational waveforms and the recoils imparted to the black holes, discussing the prospects of detection of these sources for a number of present and future detectors.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2010

A new three-dimensional general-relativistic hydrodynamics code

We present a new three-dimensional general relativistic hydrodynamics code, the Whisky code. This code incorporates the expertise developed over the past years in the numerical solution of Einstein equations and of the hydrodynamics equations in a curved spacetime, and is the result of a collaboration of several European Institutes. We here discuss the ability of the code to carry out long-term accurate evolutions of the linear and nonlinear dynamics of isolated relativistic stars.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2010

Gravitational-wave detectability of equal-mass black-hole binaries with aligned spins

Binary black-hole systems with spins aligned or anti-aligned to the orbital angular momentum provide the natural ground to start detailed studies of the influence of strong-field spin effects on gravitational wave observations of coalescing binaries. Furthermore, such systems may be the preferred end-state of the inspiral of generic supermassive binary black-hole systems. In view of this, we have computed the inspiral and merger of a large set of binary systems of equal-mass black holes with spins parallel to the orbital angular momentum but otherwise arbitrary. Our attention is particularly focused on the gravitational-wave emission so as to quantify how much spin effects contribute to the signal-to-noise ratio, to the horizon distances, and to the relative event rates for the representative ranges in masses and detectors. As expected, the signal-to-noise ratio increases with the projection of the total black hole spin in the direction of the orbital momentum. We find that equal-spin binaries with maximum spin aligned with the orbital angular momentum are more than "three times as loud" as the corresponding binaries with anti-aligned spins, thus corresponding to event rates up to 30 times larger. We also consider the waveform mismatch between the different spinning configurations and find that, within our numerical accuracy, binaries with opposite spins S_1=-S_2 cannot be distinguished whereas binaries with spin S_1=S_2 have clearly distinct gravitational-wave emissions. Finally, we derive a simple expression for the energy radiated in gravitational waves and find that the binaries always have efficiencies E_rad/M > 3.6%, which can become as large as E_rad/M = 10% for maximally spinning binaries with spins aligned with the orbital angular momentum.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2009

Vacuum Electromagnetic Counterparts of Binary Black-Hole Mergers

As one step towards a systematic modeling of the electromagnetic (EM) emission from an inspiralling black hole binary we consider a simple scenario in which the binary moves in a uniform magnetic field anchored to a distant circumbinary disc. We study this system by solving the Einstein-Maxwell equations in which the EM fields are chosen with astrophysically consistent strengths. We consider binaries with spins aligned or anti-aligned with the orbital angular momentum and study the dependence of gravitational and EM signals with these spin configurations. Overall we find that the EM radiation in the lowest l=2, m=2 multipole accurately reflects the gravitational one, with identical phase evolutions and amplitudes that differ only by a scaling factor. We also compute the efficiency of the energy emission in EM waves and find that it is given by E^rad_EM/M ~ 10^-15 (M/10^8 M_Sun)^2 (B/10^4 G)^2, hence 13 orders of magnitude smaller than the gravitational energy for realistic magnetic fields. The corresponding luminosity is much smaller than the accretion luminosity if the system is accreting at near the Eddington rate. Most importantly, this EM emission is at frequencies of 10^-4 (10^8 M_Sun/M) Hz, well outside those accessible to astronomical radio observations. As a result, it is unlikely that the EM emission discussed here can be detected directly and simultaneously with the gravitational-wave one. However, indirect processes, driven by changes in the EM fields behavior could yield observable events. In particular if the accretion rate of the circumbinary disc is small and sufficiently stable over the timescale of the final inspiral, then the EM emission may be observable indirectly as it will alter the accretion rate through the magnetic torques exerted by the distorted magnetic field lines.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2009

Predicting the direction of the final spin from the coalescence of two black holes

Knowledge of the spin of the black hole resulting from the merger of a generic black-hole binary is of great importance for studying the cosmological evolution of supermassive black holes. Several attempts have been made to model the spin via simple expressions exploiting the results of numerical-relativity simulations. While these expressions are in reasonable agreement with the simulations, they neglect the precession of the binary's orbital plane, and cannot therefore be applied directly -- i.e., without evolving the system to small separations using post-Newtonian theory -- to binaries with separations larger than a few hundred gravitational radii. While not a problem in principle, this may be impractical if the formulas are employed in cosmological merger-trees or N-body simulations, which provide the spins and angular momentum of the two black holes when their separation is of hundreds or thousands of gravitational radii. The formula that we propose is instead built on improved assumptions and gives, for any separation, a very accurate prediction both for the norm of the final spin and for its direction. By comparing with the numerical data, we also show that the final-spin direction is very accurately aligned with the binary's total angular momentum at large separation. Hence, observations of the final-spin direction (e.g. via a jet) can provide information on the binary's orbital plane at large separations and could be relevant, for instance, for studying X-shaped radio sources.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2009

Can magnetic fields be detected during the inspiral of binary neutron stars?

Using accurate and fully general-relativistic simulations we assess the effect that magnetic fields have on the gravitational-wave emission produced during the inspiral and merger of magnetized neutron stars. In particular, we show that magnetic fields have an impact after the merger, because they are amplified by a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, but also during the inspiral, most likely because the magnetic tension reduces the stellar tidal deformation for extremely large initial magnetic fields, B_0>~10^{17}G. We quantify the influence of magnetic fields by computing the overlap, O, between the waveforms produced during the inspiral by magnetized and unmagnetized binaries. We find that for any realistic magnetic field strength B_0<~10^{14}G the overlap during the inspiral is O>~0.999 and is quite insensitive to the mass of the neutron stars. Only for unrealistically large magnetic fields like B_0~10^{17}G the overlap does decrease noticeably, becoming at our resolutions O<~0.76/0.67 for stars with baryon masses M_b~1.4/1.6 Msun, respectively. Because neutron stars are expected to merge with magnetic fields ~10^{8}-10^{10}G and because present detectors are sensitive to O<~0.995, we conclude that it is very unlikely that the present detectors will be able to discern the presence of magnetic fields during the inspiral of neutron stars.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2009

Testing gravitational-wave searches with numerical relativity waveforms: Results from the first Numerical INJection Analysis (NINJA) project

The Numerical INJection Analysis (NINJA) project is a collaborative effort between members of the numerical relativity and gravitational-wave data analysis communities. The purpose of NINJA is to study the sensitivity of existing gravitational-wave search algorithms using numerically generated waveforms and to foster closer collaboration between the numerical relativity and data analysis communities. We describe the results of the first NINJA analysis which focused on gravitational waveforms from binary black hole coalescence. Ten numerical relativity groups contributed numerical data which were used to generate a set of gravitational-wave signals. These signals were injected into a simulated data set, designed to mimic the response of the Initial LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave detectors. Nine groups analysed this data using search and parameter-estimation pipelines. Matched filter algorithms, un-modelled-burst searches and Bayesian parameter-estimation and model-selection algorithms were applied to the data. We report the efficiency of these search methods in detecting the numerical waveforms and measuring their parameters. We describe preliminary comparisons between the different search methods and suggest improvements for future NINJA analyses.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2009

Status of NINJA: the Numerical INJection Analysis project

The 2008 NRDA conference introduced the Numerical INJection Analysis project (NINJA), a new collaborative effort between the numerical relativity community and the data analysis community. NINJA focuses on modeling and searching for gravitational wave signatures from the coalescence of binary system of compact objects. We review the scope of this collaboration and the components of the first NINJA project, where numerical relativity groups shared waveforms and data analysis teams applied various techniques to detect them when embedded in colored Gaussian noise.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2009

Accurate evolutions of inspiralling neutron-star binaries: assessment of the truncation error

We have recently presented an investigation in full general relativity of the dynamics and gravitational-wave emission from binary neutron stars which inspiral and merge, producing a black hole surrounded by a torus (see arXiv:0804.0594). We here discuss in more detail the convergence properties of the results presented in arXiv:0804.0594 and, in particular, the deterioration of the convergence rate at the merger and during the survival of the merged object, when strong shocks are formed and turbulence develops. We also show that physically reasonable and numerically convergent results obtained at low-resolution suffer however from large truncation errors and hence are of little physical use. We summarize our findings in an "error budget", which includes the different sources of possible inaccuracies we have investigated and provides a first quantitative assessment of the precision in the modelling of compact fluid binaries.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2008

Modelling the final state from binary black-hole coalescences

Over the last few years enormous progress has been made in the numerical description of the inspiral and merger of binary black holes. A particular effort has gone into the modelling of the physical properties of the final black hole, namely its spin and recoil velocity, as these quantities have direct impact in astrophysics, cosmology and, of course, general relativity. As numerical-relativity calculations still remain computationally very expensive and cannot be used to investigate the complete space of possible parameters, semi-analytic approaches have been developed and shown to reproduce with very high precision the numerical results. I here collect and review these efforts, pointing out the relative strengths and weaknesses, and discuss which directions are more promising to further improve them.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2008

An improved formulation of the relativistic hydrodynamics equations in 2D Cartesian coordinates

A number of astrophysical scenarios possess and preserve an overall cylindrical symmetry also when undergoing a catastrophic and nonlinear evolution. Exploiting such a symmetry, these processes can be studied through numerical-relativity simulations at smaller computational costs and at considerably larger spatial resolutions. We here present a new flux-conservative formulation of the relativistic hydrodynamics equations in cylindrical coordinates. By rearranging those terms in the equations which are the sources of the largest numerical errors, the new formulation yields a global truncation error which is one or more orders of magnitude smaller than those of alternative and commonly used formulations. We illustrate this through a series of numerical tests involving the evolution of oscillating spherical and rotating stars, as well as shock-tube tests.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2008

Accurate evolutions of inspiralling neutron-star binaries: prompt and delayed collapse to black hole

Binary neutron-star (BNS) systems represent primary sources for the gravitational-wave (GW) detectors. We present a systematic investigation in full GR of the dynamics and GW emission from BNS which inspiral and merge, producing a black hole (BH) surrounded by a torus. Our results represent the state of the art from several points of view: (i) We use HRSC methods for the hydrodynamics equations and high-order finite-differencing techniques for the Einstein equations; (ii) We employ AMR techniques with "moving boxes"; (iii) We use as initial data BNSs in irrotational quasi-circular orbits; (iv) We exploit the isolated-horizon formalism to measure the properties of the BHs produced in the merger; (v) Finally, we use two approaches, based either on gauge-invariant perturbations or on Weyl scalars, to calculate the GWs. These techniques allow us to perform accurate evolutions on timescales never reported before (ie ~30 ms) and to provide the first complete description of the inspiral and merger of a BNS leading to the prompt or delayed formation of a BH and to its ringdown. We consider either a polytropic or an ideal fluid EOS and show that already with this idealized EOSs a very interesting phenomenology emerges. In particular, we show that while high-mass binaries lead to the prompt formation of a rapidly rotating BH surrounded by a dense torus, lower-mass binaries give rise to a differentially rotating NS, which undergoes large oscillations and emits large amounts of GWs. Eventually, also the NS collapses to a rotating BH surrounded by a torus. Finally, we also show that the use of a non-isentropic EOS leads to significantly different evolutions, giving rise to a delayed collapse also with high-mass binaries, as well as to a more intense emission of GWs and to a geometrically thicker torus.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2008

Beyond ideal MHD: towards a more realistic modeling of relativistic astrophysical plasmas

Many astrophysical processes involving magnetic fields and quasi-stationary processes are well described when assuming the fluid as a perfect conductor. For these systems, the ideal-magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) description captures the dynamics effectively and a number of well-tested techniques exist for its numerical solution. Yet, there are several astrophysical processes involving magnetic fields which are highly dynamical and for which resistive effects can play an important role. The numerical modeling of such non-ideal MHD flows is significantly more challenging as the resistivity is expected to change of several orders of magnitude across the flow and the equations are then either of hyperbolic-parabolic nature or hyperbolic with stiff terms. We here present a novel approach for the solution of these relativistic resistive MHD equations exploiting the properties of implicit-explicit (IMEX) Runge Kutta methods. By examining a number of tests we illustrate the accuracy of our approach under a variety of conditions and highlight its robustness when compared with alternative methods, such as the Strang-splitting. Most importantly, we show that our approach allows one to treat, within a unified framework, both those regions of the flow which are fluid-pressure dominated (such as in the interior of compact objects) and those which are instead magnetic-pressure dominated (such as in their magnetospheres)

astro-ph↗