PROFESSOR DAVID HILDITCH

When solving general relativity numerically for a given physical problem we must use a formulation of the field equations for which the resulting partial differential equation problem is well-posed. Building such a good formulation usually requires making a coordinate choice. This leads to the statements like `gauge freedom in general relativity is the choice of coordinates'. The latter two facts have long bothered the speaker, because one of the first lessons in relativity is that coordinates should in some sense not matter. In his talk, the speaker will explain the solution to this problem. Afterwards he will describe ongoing work to exploit the solution for practical calculations in the evolution of compact binary spacetimes.