Binary black holes on a budget: Simulations using workstations

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that binary black hole simulations, traditionally requiring supercomputers, can be effectively performed on dual processor workstations using the BAM code, enabling more accessible studies of black hole mergers.

Contribution

The study shows how the BAM code can be used on workstations for stable, high-resolution binary black hole simulations, reducing computational costs.

Findings

Simulations achieved up to M/160 resolution.

Stable for durations up to 20 orbital periods.

Results agree with previous high-end simulations.

Abstract

Binary black hole simulations have traditionally been computationally very expensive: current simulations are performed in supercomputers involving dozens if not hundreds of processors, thus systematic studies of the parameter space of binary black hole encounters still seem prohibitive with current technology. Here we show how the multi-layered refinement level code BAM can be used on dual processor workstations to simulate certain binary black hole systems. BAM, based on the moving punctures method, provides grid structures composed of boxes of increasing resolution near the center of the grid. In the case of binaries, the highest resolution boxes are placed around each black hole and they track them in their orbits until the final merger when a single set of levels surrounds the black hole remnant. This is particularly useful when simulating spinning black holes since the gravitational fields gradients are larger. We present simulations of binaries with equal mass black holes with spins parallel to the binary axis and intrinsic magnitude of S/m^2= 0.75. Our results compare favorably to those of previous simulations of this particular system. We show that the moving punctures method produces stable simulations at maximum spatial resolutions up to M/160 and for durations of up to the equivalent of 20 orbital periods.