Frame-dragging vortexes and tidal tendexes attached to colliding black holes: Visualizing the curvature of spacetime

Date
2011
Authors
Owen R.
Brink J.
Chen Y.
Kaplan J.D.
Lovelace G.
Matthews K.D.
Nichols D.A.
Scheel M.A.
Zhang F.
Zimmerman A.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
When one splits spacetime into space plus time, the spacetime curvature (Weyl tensor) gets split into an "electric" part Ejk that describes tidal gravity and a "magnetic" part Bjk that describes differential dragging of inertial frames. We introduce tools for visualizing Bjk (frame-drag vortex lines, their vorticity, and vortexes) and Ejk (tidal tendex lines, their tendicity, and tendexes) and also visualizations of a black-hole horizon's (scalar) vorticity and tendicity. We use these tools to elucidate the nonlinear dynamics of curved spacetime in merging black-hole binaries. © 2011 American Physical Society.
Description
Keywords
Black holes, Curved spacetime, Frame-dragging, Inertial frames, Spacetime, Spacetime curvature, Vortex lines, Visualization, Vorticity, Vortex flow
Citation
Physical Review Letters
106
15
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