NUMERICAL RELATIVITY - EVOLVING SPACETIME

The construction of numerical solutions of Einstein's General Relativity equations is formulated as an initial-value problem. The space-plus-time (3 + 1) decomposition of the spacetime metric tensor is used to discuss the structure of the field equations. The resulting evolution system is shown to depend in a crucial way on the coordinate gauge. The mandatory use of singularity avoiding coordinate conditions (like maximal slicing or similar gauges) is explained. A brief historical review of Numerical Relativity is included, showing the enormous effort in constructing codes based in these gauges, which lead to non-hyperbolic evolution systems, using ''ad hoc'' numerical techniques. A new family of first order hyperbolic evolution systems for the vacuum Einstein field equations in the harmonic slicing gauge is presented. This family depends on a symmetric 3 x 3 array of parameters which can be used to scale the dynamical variables in future numerical applications.