Numerical Relativity: Starting from Scratch

Thomas W. Baumgarte is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. His work in numerical relativity and relativistic astrophysics has been recognized with prizes and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Humboldt Foundation, the American Physical Society, and the Simons Foundation. Stuart Shapiro and he have previously co-authored the graduate-level text Numerical Relativity: Solving Einstein's Equations on the Computer (Cambridge, 2010). Stuart L. Shapiro is a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a leading scientist in theoretical astrophysics and general relativity and has been awarded numerous prizes and honors for his research and teaching, including Sloan and Guggenheim fellowships, IBM Supercomputing awards, and the Hans A. Bethe Prize of the American Physical Society, where he was elected Fellow. Shapiro has published over 400 research papers and, in addition to his writing with Thomas Baumgarte, he is co-author of the classic text Black Holes, White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars: The Physics of Compact Objects (1983).

'Computational general relativity has now become a central tool for the exploration of the astrophysical universe, and gravitational-wave astronomy would not be possible without it. A burgeoning or seasoned astrophysicist who wishes to be up to date must therefore acquire an awareness of the field's methods and main achievements. But where to begin? With this book! Baumgarte and Shapiro are leading experts (indeed, founding experts) of this field, and with their trademark lucid and engaging prose, they take us gently by the hand on a comprehensive guided tour. Mysterious notions (lapse, shift, extrinsic curvature, constraint equations) are introduced seamlessly, and the book features a gallery of the field's most important results to date. A superb achievement for the great benefit of the scientific community.' Eric Poisson, University of Guelph; author of A Relativist's Toolkit

• Preface; 1. Newton's and Einstein's gravity; 2. Foliations of spacetime: constraint and evolution equations; 3. Solving the constraint equations; 4 Solving the evolution equations; 5. Numerical simulations of black-hole binaries; Epilogue; Appendix A. A brief review of tensor properties; Appendix B. A brief introduction to some numerical techniques; Appendix C. A very brief introduction to matter sources; Appendix D. A summary of important results; Appendix E. Answers to selected problems; References; Index.