Calculating gravitational waves at infinity: the missing link
Abstract
Gravitational-wave science requires waveform templates to be computed at future null infinity, the asymptotic boundary of spacetime. Numerical solutions of Einstein's equations typically rely on a Cauchy evolution on a finite computational domain, but can produce waveforms at infinity by performing a subsequent characteristic evolution that compactifies the spacetime. Such waveforms capture expected physical effects, like gravitational-wave memory and late-time, power-law tails. But this characteristic evolution requires initial data consistent with the interior Cauchy solution to avoid producing spurious, long-lived transients. A careful analysis shows that previous prescriptions for this initial data were not sufficiently consistent and provides a way to remedy the problem. The new initial data yield accurate waveforms from the first cycle onward. The construction is independent of the Cauchy formulation and enables the production of catalogs of robust waveforms at infinity.
Related
- Carroll-Cotton Tensors and Gravitational Radiation at Null Infinity
- Black holes with conical infinity in gravitational caloric theory
- Thermodynamic geometry as the missing link: toward a unified framework for black hole first-order phase transitions
- Linear Gravitational Waves due to the Wheeler-DeWitt Crystal
- Memory Effect for deformed gravitational waves
BibTeX
@misc{re2026calculating,
title = {{Calculating gravitational waves at infinity: the missing link}},
author = {Guido Da Re and Keefe Mitman and Leo C. Stein and Nils Deppe and Himanshu Chaudhary and Dongze Sun and Michael Boyle and Kyle C. Nelli and Mark A. Scheel and Saul A. Teukolsky},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.30263},
eprint = {2610.30263},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.30263},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Calculating gravitational waves at infinity: the missing link
AU - Guido Da Re
AU - Keefe Mitman
AU - Leo C. Stein
AU - Nils Deppe
AU - Himanshu Chaudhary
AU - Dongze Sun
AU - Michael Boyle
AU - Kyle C. Nelli
AU - Mark A. Scheel
AU - Saul A. Teukolsky
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.30263
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.30263
AB - Gravitational-wave science requires waveform templates to be computed at future null infinity, the asymptotic boundary of spacetime. Numerical solutions of Einstein's equations typically rely on a Cauchy evolution on a finite computational domain, but can produce waveforms at infinity by performing a subsequent characteristic evolution that compactifies the spacetime. Such waveforms capture expected physical effects, like gravitational-wave memory and late-time, power-law tails. But this characteristic evolution requires initial data consistent with the interior Cauchy solution to avoid producing spurious, long-lived transients. A careful analysis shows that previous prescriptions for this initial data were not sufficiently consistent and provides a way to remedy the problem. The new initial data yield accurate waveforms from the first cycle onward. The construction is independent of the Cauchy formulation and enables the production of catalogs of robust waveforms at infinity.
ER -