1999/08/31 by David Garfinkle, D. Garfinkle, Carsten Gundlach +1 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0264-9381/16/12/325
published as Class.Quant.Grav. 16 (1999) 4111-4123 · 10 pages, RevTex, to be published in CQG
arxiv created 1999/10/28 · openalex publication_date 1999/11/24 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
In numerically constructing a spacetime that has an approximate timelike Killing vector, it is useful to choose spacetime coordinates adapted to the symmetry, so that the metric and matter variables vary only slowly with time in these coordinates. In particular, this is a crucial issue in numerically calculating a binary black hole inspiral. An approximate homothetic vector plays a role in critical gravitational collapse. We summarize old and new suggestions for finding such coordinates from a general point of view. We then test some of these in various toy models with spherical symmetry, including critical fluid collapse and critical scalar field collapse.