Constraint Propagation Equations Research Articles

Constraint propagation ofC2-adjusted formulation. II. Another recipe for robust Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura evolution system

In order to obtain an evolution system which is robust against the violation of constraints, we present a new set of evolution systems based on the so-called Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura (BSSN) equations.The idea is to add functional derivatives of the norm of constraints, $C^2$, to the evolution equations, which was proposed by Fiske (2004) and was applied to the ADM formulation in our previous study. We derive the constraint propagation equations, discuss the behavior of constraint damping, and present the results of numerical tests using the gauge-wave and polarized Gowdy wave spacetimes. The construction of the $C^2$-adjusted system is straightforward. However, in BSSN, there are two kinetic constraints and three algebraic constraints; thus, the definition of $C^2$ is a matter of concern. By analyzing constraint propagation equations, we conclude that $C^2$ should include all the constraints, which is also confirmed numerically. By tuning the parameters, the lifetime of the simulations can be increased as 2-10 times as longer than those of the standard BSSN evolutions.

Constraint propagation ofC2-adjusted formulation: Another recipe for robust ADM evolution system

With a purpose of constructing a robust evolution system against numerical instability for integrating the Einstein equations, we propose a new formulation by adjusting the ADM evolution equations with constraints. We apply an adjusting method proposed by Fiske (2004) which uses the norm of the constraints, ${C}^{2}$. One of the advantages of this method is that the effective signature of adjusted terms (Lagrange multipliers) for constraint-damping evolution is predetermined. We demonstrate this fact by showing the eigenvalues of constraint propagation equations. We also perform numerical tests of this adjusted evolution system using polarized Gowdy-wave propagation, which show robust evolutions against the violation of the constraints than that of the standard ADM formulation.

Constraint propagation equations of the 3+1 decomposition of f(R) gravity

Theories of gravity other than general relativity (GR) can explain the observed cosmic acceleration without a cosmological constant. One such class of theories of gravity is f(R). Metric f(R) theories have been proven to be equivalent to Brans–Dicke (BD) scalar–tensor gravity without a kinetic term (ω = 0). Using this equivalence and a 3+1 decomposition of the theory, it has been shown that metric f(R) gravity admits a well-posed initial value problem. However, it has not been proven that the 3+1 evolution equations of metric f(R) gravity preserve the (Hamiltonian and momentum) constraints. In this paper, we show that this is indeed the case. In addition, we show that the mathematical form of the constraint propagation equations in BD-equilavent f(R) gravity and in f(R) gravity in both the Jordan and Einstein frames is exactly the same as in the standard ADM 3+1 decomposition of GR. Finally, we point out that current numerical relativity codes can incorporate the 3+1 evolution equations of metric f(R) gravity by modifying the stress–energy tensor and adding an additional scalar field evolution equation. We hope that this work will serve as a starting point for relativists to develop fully dynamical codes for valid f(R) models.

Formulations of the Einstein Equations for Numerical Simulations

We review recent efforts to re-formulate the Einstein equations for fully relativistic numerical simulations. In order to complete a long-term and accurate simulations of binary compact objects, people seek a robust set of equations against the violation of constraints. Many trials have revealed that mathematically equivalent sets of evolution equations show different numerical stability in free evolution schemes. In this article, we overview the efforts of the community, categorizing them into three directions: (1) modifications of the standard Arnowitt-Deser-Misner equations initiated by the Kyoto group (the so-called Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura equations), (2) rewriting the evolution equations in a hyperbolic form, and (3) construction of an "asymptotically constrained" system. We then introduce our series of works that tries to explain these evolution behaviors in a unified way using eigenvalue analysis of the constraint propagation equations. The modifications of (or adjustments to) the evolution equations change the character of constraint propagation, and several particular adjustments using constraints are expected to damp the constraint-violating modes. We show several set of adjusted ADM/BSSN equations, together with their numerical demonstrations.

Mixed hyperbolic—second-order-parabolic formulations of general relativity

Two new formulations of general relativity are introduced. The first one is a parabolization of the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner formulation and is derived by the addition of combinations of the constraints and their derivatives to the right-hand side of the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner evolution equations. The desirable property of this modification is that it turns the surface of constraints into a local attractor because the constraint propagation equations become second-order parabolic independently of the gauge conditions employed. This system may be classified as mixed hyperbolic--second-order parabolic. The second formulation is a parabolization of the Kidder-Scheel-Teukolsky formulation and is a manifestly mixed strongly hyperbolic--second-order-parabolic set of equations, bearing thus resemblance to the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. As a first test, a stability analysis of flat space is carried out and it is shown that the first modification exponentially damps and smoothes all constraint-violating modes. These systems provide a new basis for constructing schemes for long-term and stable numerical integration of the Einstein field equations.

Numerical experiments of adjusted Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura systems for controlling constraint violations

We present our numerical comparisons between the Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura (BSSN) formulation widely used in numerical relativity today and its adjusted versions using constraints. We performed three test beds: gauge-wave, linear wave, and Gowdy-wave tests, proposed by the Mexico workshop on the formulation problem of the Einstein equations. We tried three kinds of adjustments, which were previously proposed from the analysis of the constraint propagation equations, and investigated how they improve the accuracy and stability of evolutions. We observed that the signature of the proposed Lagrange multipliers are always right and the adjustments improve the convergence and stability of the simulations. When the original BSSN system already shows satisfactory good evolutions (e.g., linear wave test), the adjusted versions also coincide with those evolutions, while in some cases (e.g., gauge-wave or Gowdy-wave tests) the simulations using the adjusted systems last 10 times as long as those using the original BSSN equations. Our demonstrations imply a potential to construct a robust evolution system against constraint violations even in highly dynamical situations.

Letter: Constraint Propagation in (N + 1)-Dimensional Space-Time

Higher dimensional space-time models provide us an alternative interpretation of nature, and give us different dynamical aspects than the traditional four-dimensional space-time models. Motivated by such recent interests, especially for future numerical research of higher-dimensional space-time, we study the dimensional dependence of constraint propagation behavior. The $N+1$ Arnowitt-Deser-Misner evolution equation has matter terms which depend on $N$, but the constraints and constraint propagation equations remain the same. This indicates that there would be problems with accuracy and stability when we directly apply the $N+1$ ADM formulation to numerical simulations as we have experienced in four-dimensional cases. However, we also conclude that previous efforts in re-formulating the Einstein equations can be applied if they are based on constraint propagation analysis.

Advantages of a modified ADM formulation: Constraint propagation analysis of the Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura system

Several numerical relativity groups are using a modified Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) formulation for their simulations, which was developed by Nakamura and co-workers (and widely cited as the Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura system). This so-called BSSN formulation is shown to be more stable than the standard ADM formulation in many cases, and there have been many attempts to explain why this reformulation has such an advantage. We try to explain the background mechanism of the BSSN equations by using an eigenvalue analysis of constraint propagation equations. This analysis has been applied and has succeeded in explaining other systems in our series of works. We derive the full set of the constraint propagation equations, and study it in the flat background space-time. We carefully examine how the replacements and adjustments in the equations change the propagation structure of the constraints, i.e., whether violation of constraints (if it exists) will decay or propagate away. We conclude that the better stability of the BSSN system is obtained by their adjustments in the equations, and that the combination of the adjustments is in a good balance, i.e., a lack of their adjustments might fail to obtain the present stability. We further propose other adjustments to the equations, which may offer more stable features than the current BSSN equations.

Constraint propagation in the family of ADM systems

The current important issue in numerical relativity is to determine which formulation of the Einstein equations provides us with stable and accurate simulations. Based on our previous work on "asymptotically constrained" systems, we here present constraint propagation equations and their eigenvalues for the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) evolution equations with additional constraint terms (adjusted terms) on the right hand side. We conjecture that the system is robust against violation of constraints if the amplification factors (eigenvalues of Fourier-component of the constraint propagation equations) are negative or pure-imaginary. We show such a system can be obtained by choosing multipliers of adjusted terms. Our discussion covers Detweiler's proposal (1987) and Frittelli's analysis (1997), and we also mention the so-called conformal-traceless ADM systems.

Hyperbolic formulations and numerical relativity: II.asymptotically constrained systems of Einsteinequations

We study asymptotically constrained systems for numericalintegration of the Einstein equations, which are intendedto be robust against perturbative errors for the freeevolution of the initial data. First, we examine thepreviously proposed `λ system', which introducesartificial flows to constraint surfaces based on thesymmetric hyperbolic formulation. We show that thissystem works as expected for the wave propagation problemin the Maxwell system and in general relativity usingAshtekar's connection formulation. Second, we propose anew mechanism to control the stability, which we call the`adjusted system'. This is simply obtained by addingconstraint terms in the dynamical equations and adjustingtheir multipliers. We explain why a particular choice ofmultiplier reduces the numerical errors from non-positiveor pure-imaginary eigenvalues of the adjusted constraintpropagation equations. This `adjusted system' is alsotested in the Maxwell system and in the Ashtekar system.This mechanism affects more than the system's symmetrichyperbolicity.