GiRaFFE: an open-source general relativistic force-free electrodynamics code
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2017
Abstract
We present GiRaFFE, the first open-source general relativistic force-free electrodynamics (GRFFE) code for dynamical, numerical-relativity generated spacetimes. GiRaFFE adopts the strategy pioneered by McKinney and modified by Paschalidis and Shapiro to convert a GR magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) code into a GRFFE code. In short, GiRaFFE exists as a modification of IllinoisGRMHD, a user-friendly, open-source, dynamical-spacetime GRMHD code. Both GiRaFFE and IllinoisGRMHD leverage the Einstein Toolkit's highly-scalable infrastructure to make possible large-scale simulations of magnetized plasmas in strong, dynamical spacetimes on adaptive-mesh refinement (AMR) grids. We demonstrate that GiRaFFE passes a large suite of both flat and curved-spacetime code tests passed by a number of other state-of-the-art GRFFE codes, and is thus ready for production-scale simulations of GRFFE phenomena of key interest to relativistic astrophysics.
Recommended Citation
Etienne, Z. B., Wan, M., Babiuc, M. C., McWilliams, S. T. & A. Choudhary (2017). GiRaFFE: An open-source general relativistic force-free electrodynamics code. General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology. 34(21), 215001.
Comments
The version of record is available from the publisher at http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6382/aa8ab3. Copyright © 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.