Combining spectral and shock-capturing methods:: A new numerical approach for 3D relativistic core collapse simulations -: art. no. 064023

We present a new three-dimensional general relativistic hydrodynamics code which is in intended for simulations of stellar core collapse to a neutron star, as well as pulsations and instabilities of rotating relativistic stars. Contrary to the common approach followed in most existing three-dimensional numerical relativity codes which are based in Cartesian coordinates, in this code both the metric and the hydrodynamics equations are formulated and solved numerically using spherical polar coordinates. A distinctive feature of this new code is the combination of two types of accurate numerical schemes specifically designed to solve each system of equations. More precisely, the code uses spectral methods for solving the gravitational field equations, which are formulated under the assumption of the conformal flatness condition (CFC) for the three-metric. Correspondingly, the hydrodynamics equations are solved by a class of finite difference methods called high-resolution shock-capturing schemes, based upon state-of-the-art Riemann solvers and third-order cell-reconstruction procedures. We demonstrate that the combination of a finite difference grid and a spectral grid, on which the hydrodynamics and metric equations are, respectively, solved, can be successfully accomplished. This approach, which we call Mariage des Maillages (French for grid wedding), results in high accuracy of the metric solver and, in practice, allows for fully three-dimensional applications using computationally affordable resources, along with ensuring long-term numerical stability of the evolution. We compare our new approach to two other, finite difference based, methods to solve the metric equations which we already employed in earlier axisymmetric simulations of core collapse. A variety of tests in two and three dimensions is presented, involving highly perturbed neutron star spacetimes and (axisymmetric) stellar core collapse, which demonstrate the ability of the code to handle spacetimes with and without symmetries in strong gravity. These tests are also employed to assess. the gravitational waveform extraction capabilities of the code, which is based on the Newtonian quadrupole formula. The code presented here is not limited to approximations of the Einstein equations such as CFC, but it is also well suited, in principle, to recent constrained formulations of the metric equations where elliptic equations have a preeminence over hyperbolic equations.