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Physical Society Colloquium
Spacetime Engineering Professor Stuart L. Shapiro
Professor of Physics and Astronomy & NCSA Senior Scientist General relativity - Einstein's theory of relativistic gravitation - is the cornerstone of modern cosmology, the physics of neutron stars and black holes, the generation of gravitational radiation, and countless other cosmic phenomena in which strong-field gravitation is believed to play a dominant role. Yet the theory remains largely untested, except in the weak-field, slow-velocity regime. Moreover, solutions to Einstein's equations, except for a few idealized cases characterized by high degrees of symmetry, have not been obtained as yet for many of the important dynamical scenarios thought to occur in nature. Now, with the advent of supercomputers, it is possible to tackle these highly nonlinear equations numerically and explore these scenarios in detail. I will review some recent progress in solving Einstein's equations of general relativity by numerical means. After sketching briefly how to go about building a spacetime on a numerical grid, I will show the results of a few of our recent computations. Examples will include star cluster collapse to black holes, black hole collisions, collapsing donuts and disks, binary neutron stars and the generation and propagation of gravitational waves. The talk will be highlighted throughout by computer-generated videos of the simulations. No astronomy or general relativity background will be assumed.
Friday April 9th 1999, 15:30 |