Binary inspiral: finding the right approximation
In searching for and interpreting signals from binary mergers, gravitational wave detectors need information about the features of gravitational wave bursts generated by these strong field events. Numerical relativity will ultimately provide the answers, but not on the time scale needed by the first detectors. We propose here a method in which exact numerical solutions to Einstein's equations, for periodic sources and standing waves, are used as an approximation to the strong field quasistationary epoch of inspiral. We discuss how this approximation changes the mathematical nature of the computation, and we report on progress with this problem and on remaining challenges.