This message was sent only to the original poster, so I'm resending it to math-fun. From: Henry Baker <hbaker1@pipeline.com> To: Eugene Salamin <gene_salamin@yahoo.com> Cc: math-fun <math-fun@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2009 2:32:34 PM Subject: Re: [math-fun] dumb question re GR -- 2-body simulators on the web? Sounds like the evolution of the banking system. :-) I watched the movie you referenced, but the downloadable version was at too low a resolution & went by too fast to get any better understanding of what was going on. I assume that you mean that _any_ configuration of exactly 2 black holes -- regardless of size ratio, energy & angular momentum -- will eventually merge into one black hole, with the emission of gravitational radiation. [Yes, that is correct. The radiated energy is supplied by increased gravitational binding.] Even dumber question: what eventually happens to the resulting black hole & its gravitational radiation? In the classical GR case, is this an infinite universe? [Assuming the initial conditions to be asymptotically flat space, the same will be true after the merger. The resulting black hole is an ordinary black hole with mass and angular momentum, while the radiation propagates off to infinity. -- Gene] At 02:17 PM 7/26/2009, Eugene Salamin wrote:
The second problem, that of two black holes, is nontrivial, and is a topic of current research. There does not exist a static solution since there will be gravitational radiation, leading to the eventual merger of the black holes. Google search for "black hole merger". The first hit is a movie that may possibly be helpful.