Numerical Relativity as a tool for studying the Early Universe

David Garrison, Associate Professor and Chair of Physics, UHCL

Numerical simulations are becoming a more effective tool for conducting detailed investigations into the evolution of our universe. In this presentation, we show how the framework of numerical relativity can be used for studying cosmological models. The author is working to develop a large-scale simulation of the dynamical processes in the early universe. These take into account interactions of dark matter, scalar perturbations, gravitational waves, magnetic fields and a turbulent plasma. The codes described in this report are GRMHD codes based on the Cactus framework and is structured to utilize one of several different differencing methods chosen at run-time.