Collaborative Research: WoU-MMA: Toward Binary Neutron Star Mergers on a Moving-mesh

The project will develop a computational code for modeling the mergers of neutron star binaries. The new code will combine the efficiencies of a fluid dynamics code and a numerical relativity code to produce a code that can more quickly and accurately predict the expected optical afterglows from neutron star binary mergers. This will help us to learn more about the origin of heavy elements in the universe.

The project will also support the development of training materials for numerical relativity at the graduate and undergraduate levels. The work will also be incorporated into the citizen-science project "BlackHoles@Home" that is focused on gravitational wave astronomy. Public outreach efforts will also be presented at the UW-Milwaukee planetarium. This award advances the goals of the Windows on the Universe Big Idea.

The project will combine the moving-mesh hydrodynamics code MANGA with an efficient numerical relativity code SENR/NRPy+. Each code relies on using an appropriate grid to model the physics. This project will integrate the two codes to allow for a moving-mesh general relativistic hydrodynamics code that will be ideal for studying compact object mergers.

Upon development of the new code, the project will apply it to models of binary neutron star mergers with both polytropic and realistic equations of state. The PI at UW-Milwaukee will give general presentations on neutron stars and black holes at the planetarium and train a small number of undergraduates to organize and run planetarium shows and special events.

The PI at West Virginia University will continue to support the Jupyter notebooks for SENR/NRPy+ as pedagogical training tools for students in the field of general relativistic hydrodynamics. Any improvements in SENR/NRPy+ produced in this project will be incorporated in the planned "BlackHoles@home" citizen-science project.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.