US-Germany Cooperative Research: On Some Fundamental Issues in the Initial Boundary Value Problem of GR

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge LA

Investigators

Abstract

0307290 Lehner This award supports the PI, postdocs, and graduate students from Louisiana State University in a collaboration with Helmut Friedrich of the Albert Einstein Institute at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitation Physics in Golm, Germany. One of the main goals of the collaboration is to produce computational models that will be able to predict the gravitational waves produced by strongly gravitating, highly dynamical sources, such as black holes and binary pulsars. Prototype gravitational wave antennae exist throughout the world, and the complexity of gravitational radiation requires numerical methods to make interpretation of data from the detectors possible. The numerical simulation of Einstein's equations will allow researchers to probe deep into the theory and understand generic systems. The computational expertise of the groups in the US and Germany, when combined, will produce a robust simulation of the Einstein equations, which will be invaluable in the detection and analysis of gravitational waves. The project also fulfills a training objective. The international project will allow graduate and postdoctoral students involved to benefit from performing research in another country. They will be exposed to an international collaborative environment while also learning important new technical skills.