David Maxwell

University of Alaska, October 24, 12:30 pm

Einstein-Fluid Initial Data

Fluids have been a standard matter source for gravitation since the beginning days of general relativity. Nevertheless, constructing initial data for this family of matter models is surprisingly nuanced. In this talk we describe a novel approach to building Einstein-fluid initial data based on a recently established phase-space technique for non-vacuum initial data sets. Compared to prior approaches to working with fluids, the input parameters used allow for more direct specification of physical quantities, such as the number of particles in any given region. We focus on perfect fluids but also discuss extensions of these ideas to viscous models.