Caltech/JPL Association for Gravitational-Wave Research Seminar

The SpEC code used by the Caltech/Cornell/CITA numerical relativity collaboration is capable of accurately simulating a large number of orbits of a binary black hole system, the merger of the two holes, and the ringdown of the final black hole to a quiescent Kerr configuration. The capabilities of SpEC have progressed significantly in the past year: SpEC has simulated the largest number of binary black hole orbits and the largest spins of any numerical relativity code. Furthermore, SpEC is on the verge of being able to run a large number of simulations at once, automatically, without fine-tuning of parameters or any other human intervention. We are using SpEC simulations to study the topology of event horizons, the strong-field dynamics of black hole collisions, the generation of gravitational waves, and the region of validity of post-Newtonian approximations. We describe the status of the international 'NRAR' collaboration (Numerical Relativity/Analytical Relativity) whose goal is to use waveforms from these simulations and from other numerical relativity codes to produce an accurate analytical (phenomenological or PN-based) template bank for binary black holes.