title: Frame-dragging vortexes and tidal tendexes attached to colliding black holes: visualizing the curvature of spacetime.
abstract: When one splits spacetime into space plus time, the spacetime curvature (Weyl tensor) gets split into an "electric" part E(jk) that describes tidal gravity and a "magnetic" part B(jk) that describes differential dragging of inertial frames. We introduce tools for visualizing B(jk) (frame-drag vortex lines, their vorticity, and vortexes) and E(jk) (tidal tendex lines, their tendicity, and tendexes) and also visualizations of a black-hole horizon's (scalar) vorticity and tendicity. We use these tools to elucidate the nonlinear dynamics of curved spacetime in merging black-hole binaries.
authors.affiliation: Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Owen
authors.forename: Jeandrew
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brink
authors.forename: Yanbei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jeffrey D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lovelace
authors.forename: Keith D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Matthews
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Nichols
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Scheel
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zimmerman
authors.forename: Kip S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Thorne