Magic Matter, the Computational Æther, and the Miner’s Canary

dc.contributor.authorMisner, Charles W
dc.date.accessioned2007-05-07T14:39:44Z
dc.date.available2007-05-07T14:39:44Z
dc.date.issued2001-01
dc.descriptionThis paper reports research ideas which werre discussed with many international colleagues but never reached a state of completion adequate for publication. A survey of relevant literature was never pursued.en
dc.description.abstractSeveral viewpoints are proposed with the aim of promoting further approaches to the numerical integration of Einstein's equations, especially its support of attempts to detect astrophysically significant gravitational waves. Magic Matter suggests that one should instruct computer programs to ignore Einstein's equations inside the horizons of black holes, and to instead to produce computationally convenient metrics there that will not interfere with the correct solution of the equations in the physically observable regions of the simulation. The Computational Æther is the spatial grid of coordinate vertices, conceived as an imaginary substance which spreads itself conveniently over the curved space-time in ways that should simplify the computational effort. The dynamics of magic matter and the computational æther represent instances of Applied Science Fiction, where physical laws inconsistent with our knowledge of nature are used in aspects of simulations that have no observable consequences, but are expected to improve computational efficiency. The Miner’s Canary gives notice in such computations, not that the air in the mine is becoming poisoned, but that some regions of the computational grid probably lie inside apparent horizons so that one may take liberties with the Einstein equations to preserve the life of the computation. Satisfactory implementations of these three ideas are not provided here; rather some first steps toward such are proposed to stimulate further research.en
dc.description.sponsorshipMax Planck Society's Albert Einstein Institute for Gravitational Physics U.S. National Science Foundation (grants PHY0071020 and PHY9700672 University of Marylanden
dc.format.extent250643 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/postscript
dc.identifier.otherORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4888-5744en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/4361
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.relation.isAvailableAtCollege of Computer, Mathematical & Physical Sciencesen_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAtPhysicsen_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAtDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAtUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_us
dc.subjectblack holesen
dc.subjectnumerical relativityen
dc.subjectapplied science fictionen
dc.subjectcoordinate conditionsen
dc.titleMagic Matter, the Computational Æther, and the Miner’s Canaryen
dc.typeWorking Paperen

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
aquavit.ps
Size:
244.77 KB
Format:
Postscript Files
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
aquavit.pdf
Size:
184.47 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.81 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description: