The Post-Quasistatic Approximation as a test bed for Numerical Relativity

Abstract

It is shown that observers in the standard ADM 3+1 treatment of matter are the same as the observers used in the matter treatment of Bondi: they are comoving and local Minkowskian. Bondi's observers are the basis of the post--quasitatic approximation (PQSA) to study a contracting distribution of matter. This correspondence suggests the possibility of using the PQSA as a test bed for Numerical Relativity. The treatment of matter by the PQSA and its connection with the ADM 3+1 treatment are presented, for its practical use as a calibration tool and as a test bed for numerical relativistic hydrodynamic codes.