Error quantification and comparison of binary neutron star gravitational waveforms from numerical relativity codes
Sarah Habib, Elias R. Most, Nils Deppe, Francois Foucart, Mark A. Scheel, Saul Teukolsky, Michael Boyle, Matthew Duez, Larry Kidder, Jordan Moxon, Kyle C. Nelli, Harald Pfeiffer, William Throwe, Nils Vu
Published: 2025/9/27
Abstract
Future gravitational wave detections of merging binary neutron star systems have the possibility to tightly constrain the equation of state of dense nuclear matter. In order to extract such constraints, gravitational waveform models need to be calibrated to accurate numerical relativity simulations of the late inspiral and merger. In this work, we take an essential step toward classifying the error and potential systematics in current generation numerical relativity simulations of merging binary neutron stars. To this end, we perform a direct comparison of two codes (FIL, SpEC), which differ in many aspects, including the numerical methods and discretizations used and equations solved. We find that despite these different approaches, the codes are -- within current numerical resolution bounds -- fully consistent, and broadly comparable in cost for a given accuracy level. Our results indicate that the error in the waveforms is primarily dominated by the hydrodynamic evolution, consistent with earlier findings in the literature. We also discuss current limitations and cost estimates for numerical relativity simulations to reach the accuracies required in the era of next-generation gravitational wave detectors.