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Spacetime Splashes
Catching the waves in Einstein's Equations
Astrophysicists are interested in applying virtual reality and scientific visualization
to spacetime simulations to help them better understand and interpret numerical
studies of black holes, gravitational
waves, and the Einstein equations
for the gravitational field. Einstein's theory of gravity, known as General
Relativity, is a complex set of nonlinear partial differential equations.
We have developed full 3D codes to solve these equations for the gravitational field.
The movie shows gravitational waves propagating through spacetime
according to Einstein's equations for the gravitational field. The waves
are disturbances in the gravitational field that travel at the speed of light.
The simulation computes the evolution of various components of the waves.
- Investigators: Joan Masso, Ed Seidel, Paul Walker, Dan Weber, NCSA;
Jon Goldman, Trina Roy, Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
- Visualization: Mark Bajuk
- Copyright (c) 1993: Board of Trustees, University of Illinois
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Copyright, (c) 1995: Board of Trustees, University of
Illinois
NCSA. Last modified 11/9/95.