General relativistic hydrodynamics code for dynamical spacetimes with curvilinear coordinates, tabulated equations of state, and neutrino physics
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Many astrophysical systems of interest to numerical relativity---such as rapidly rotating stars, black hole accretion disks, and core-collapse supernovae---exhibit near symmetries. These systems generally consist of a strongly gravitating central object surrounded by an accretion disk, debris, and ejecta. Simulations can efficiently exploit the near axisymmetry of these systems by reducing the number of points in the angular direction around the near-symmetry axis, enabling efficient simulations over seconds-long timescales with minimal computational expense. In this paper, we introduce groovy, a novel code capable of modeling astrophysical systems containing compact objects by solving the equations of general relativistic hydrodynamics (GRHD) in full general relativity using singular curvilinear (spherical-like and cylindrical-like) and Cartesian coordinates. We demonstrate the code's robustness through a battery of challenging GRHD tests, ranging from flat, static spacetimes to curved, dynamical spacetimes. These tests further showcase the code's capabilities in modeling systems with realistic, finite-temperature equations of state and neutrino cooling via a leakage scheme. groovy extensively leverages grhayl, an open-source, modular, and infrastructure-agnostic general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics library built from the highly robust algorithms of illinoisgrmhd. Long-term simulations of binary neutron star and black hole--neutron star postmerger remnants will benefit greatly from using a future charm++-parallelized version of groovy to study phenomena such as remnant stability, gamma-ray bursts, and nucleosynthesis.
DOI: 10.1103/hc9l-1thx
Institutions: West Virginia University, University of Idaho, Marshall University
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1011805105, G1187630603, Collaborative Research: WoU-MMA: Toward Binary Neutron Star Mergers on a Moving-mesh, G127156130, Democratizing Numerical Relativity: Advancing Binary Black Hole Simulations on Consumer-Grade Hardware, G1709386404, Frameworks: E=mc2 - Enabling Multimessenger astrophysics through Community-driven Cyberinfrastructure, MRI: Acquisition of Thorny Flat Next Generation Cluster for High-Performance Computing in West Virginia, G2873784832, G388870099, G4090912142, Boosting Algorithmic Efficiency: Numerical Relativity in Dynamical, Curvilinear Coordinates, G5343793480, G6293982872, G6757593912, Collaborative Research: Frameworks: The Einstein Toolkit ecosystem: Enabling fundamental research in the era of multi-messenger astrophysics
OpenAlex ID: W4415296100