GeodesicViewer – A tool for exploring geodesics in the theory of relativity

Abstract

The GeodesicViewer realizes exocentric two- and three-dimensional illustrations of lightlike and timelike geodesics in the general theory of relativity. By means of an intuitive graphical user interface, all parameters of a spacetime as well as the initial conditions of the geodesics can be modified interactively. New version program summary Program title: GeodesicViewer Catalogue identifier: AEFP_v2_0 Program summary URL: http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEFP_v2_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queenʼs University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.html No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 76 202 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 1 722 290 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: C++, OpenGL Computer: All platforms with a C++ compiler, Qt, OpenGL Operating system: Linux, Mac OS X, Windows RAM: 24 MBytes Classification: 1.5 External routines: • Motion4D (included in the package) • Gnu Scientific Library (GSL) ( http://www.gnu.org/software/gsl/) • Qt ( http://qt.nokia.com/downloads) • OpenGL ( http://www.opengl.org/) Catalogue identifier of previous version: AEFP_v1_0 Journal reference of previous version: Comput. Phys. Comm. 181 (2010) 413 Does the new version supersede the previous version?: Yes Nature of problem: Illustrate geodesics in four-dimensional Lorentzian spacetimes. Solution method: Integration of ordinary differential equations. 3D-Rendering via OpenGL. Reasons for new version: The main reason for the new version was to visualize the parallel transport of the Sachs legs and to show the influence of curved spacetime on a bundle of light rays as is realized in the new version of the Motion4D library ( http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEEX_v3_0.html). Summary of revisions: • By choosing the new geodesic type “lightlike_sachs”, the parallel transport of the Sachs basis and the integration of the Jacobi equation can be visualized. • The 2D representation via Qwt was replaced by an OpenGL 2D implementation to speed up the visualization. • Viewing parameters can now be stored in a configuration file (.cfg). • Several new objects can be used in 3D and 2D representation. • Several predefined local tetrads can be choosen. • There are some minor modifications: new mouse control (rotate on sphere); line smoothing; current last point in coordinates is shown; mutual-coordinate representation extended; current cursor position in 2D; colors for 2D view. Running time: Interactive. The examples given take milliseconds.