1996/03/05 by L. S. Finn, Finn, Lee Samuel
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.gr-qc/9603004
openalex publication_date 1996/03/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The nature of binary black hole coalescence is the final, uncharted frontier of the relativistic Kepler problem. In the United States, binary black hole coalescence has been identified as a computational ``Grand Challenge'' whose solution is the object of a coordinated effort, just reaching its half-way point, by more than two-score researchers at nearly a dozen institutions. In this report I highlight what I see as the most serious problems standing between us and a general computational solution to the problem of binary black hole coalescence: * the computational burden associated of the problem based on reasonable extrapolations of present-day computing algorithms and near-term hardware developments; * some of the computational issues associated with those estimates, and how, through the use of different or more sophisticated computational algorithms we might reduce the expected burden; and * some of the physical problems associated with the development of a numerical solution of the field equations for a binary black hole system, with particular attention to work going on in, or in association with, the Grand Challenge.