Numerical Relativity: Solving Einstein's Equations on the Computer

There are two aspects to this book, at least how I refer to it: an introduction to the ADM formalism, and numerical analysis of black hole physics.As an introduction to the ADM formalism, it stands alone. Chapter 2 "The 3+1 decomposition of Einstein's equations" provides a very pedagogical introduction ranging from "How to foliate spacetime" to performing calculations. Maxwell's equations in 3+1 dimensions are used as a motivation. Then the notion of the Hamiltonian constraint and momentum constraints are introduced, with some intuition given.Chapter 3 "Constructing Initial Data" discusses the York time-slicing (a.k.a. conformal transformations of the spatial metric) and how that affects the constraints --- the momentum constraint becomes messy, the Hamiltonian constraint becomes pretty. Mass, momentum, and angular momentum is discussed in light of the problems of coordinate independence.I frequently refer this book to my friends who need to learn the ADM formalism, it is the best introduction to the subject. The numerical analysis is equally as delightful.Beware, though, of minor typos (e.g. page 23, "The 3+1 decompostion[sic] of..."). The math appears to be correct, the reasoning justified. Just sparse spelling errors.

The book begins with a daunting level set. It assumes a thorough grounding in graduate level texts such as Misner, Thorne and Wheeler or Wald or Weinberg, and that's in the introduction. It moves quickly from there but is not full of mystery and fog, but rather crystal clarity. It is well worth the effort to study.

A really thorough introduction to the subject, taking the reader from the basics of the ADM formalism through current reformulations for making simulations numerically stable. Anyone who wants to do, or understand, numerical relativity should have this book. Also includes lots of simulation results.

I was looking for a book to use for my independent study students, and found this. It's well suited for my needs: interesting and easy enough to be self taught, it gets the job done!

The typesetting on this book is horrific. The equations (of which there are many) are images and not tex, so they don't scale when you change the font size. And the default size of the equations are too small for me to read! I bought this book to learn, but all I learned was that I shouldn't have bought the kindle edition.

Very advanced, I need to fill in some background stuff before I can dig in.