Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme

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GR: Fachverband Gravitation, Relativistische Astrophysik und Kosmologie

GR 11: Numerical Relativity II

GR 11.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 19, 2026, 11:00–11:30, KH 01.016

Numerical Relativity for LISA and the Einstein Telescope — •Nils Vu — California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA

The upcoming European gravitational-wave detectors LISA and the Einstein Telescope are bound to revolutionize our understanding of black holes across the Universe, but to make sense of their data we will require extremely accurate numerical simulations of merging black holes and their gravitational waves. This is the realm of numerical relativity and requires solving Einstein's equations of general relativity to extreme precision on large supercomputers. In this talk, I will give an overview of the state-of-the-art in numerical relativity, recent advances in simulating merging binary black holes with highly efficient spectral finite-element methods, and the challenges that lie ahead to reach the requirements for the era of next-generation gravitational-wave astronomy.

Keywords: Black holes; Gravitational waves; Numerical relativity; LISA; Einstein Telescope