Higher-dimensional puncture initial data

TL;DR

This paper develops a method to generate initial data for simulating black holes with linear momentum in higher-dimensional spacetimes, facilitating studies of high-energy black hole collisions.

Contribution

It introduces a modified pseudo-spectral code to compute puncture initial data in D-dimensional vacuum gravity, extending previous 4D methods.

Findings

Convergence plots demonstrating numerical stability.

Violation levels of the Hamiltonian constraint.

Initial data sets for D=4,5,6,7 black hole configurations.

Abstract

We calculate puncture initial data, corresponding to single and binary black holes with linear momenta, which solve the constraint equations of D dimensional vacuum gravity. The data are generated by a modification of the pseudo-spectral code presented in arXiv:gr-qc/0404056 and made available as the TwoPunctures thorn inside the Cactus computational toolkit. As examples, we exhibit convergence plots, the violation of the Hamiltonian constraint as well as the initial data for D=4,5,6,7. These initial data are the starting point to perform high energy collisions of black holes in D dimensions.