Binary Black Holes in Quasi-Stationary Circular Orbits

Abstract

We propose a method of determining solutions to the constraint equations of General Relativity approximately describing binary black holes in quasi-stationary circular orbits. Black holes with arbitrary linear momenta are constructed in the manner suggested by Brandt and Brugmann. The quasi-stationary circular orbits are determined by local minima in the ADM mass in a manner similar to Baumgarte and Cook; however, rather than fixing the area of the apparent horizon, we fix the value of the bare masses of the holes. We numerically generate an evolutionary sequence of quasi-stationary circular orbits up to and including the innermost stable circular orbit. We compare our results with post-Newtonian expectations as well as the results of Cook and Baumgarte. We also generate additional numerical results describing the dynamics of the geometry due to the emission of gravitational radiation.