BlackHoles@Home - Revision history

Al Piskun at 13:28, 29 May 2026

2026-05-29T13:28:13Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:28, 29 May 2026
Line 35:		Line 35:

	}}		}}
	~~[[File:{{#setmainimage:bh.png}}\|alt=BlackHoles@Home logo image\|center\|frameless]]~~
	[https://blackholesathome.net/ '''''BlackHoles@Home'''''] will be a '''''[[wikipedia:Volunteer computing\|volunteer distributed computing]]''''' project seeking assistance in conducting black hole collision simulations. These simulations are intended to support analysis of gravitational wave observations of merging black holes.		[https://blackholesathome.net/ '''''BlackHoles@Home'''''] will be a '''''[[wikipedia:Volunteer computing\|volunteer distributed computing]]''''' project seeking assistance in conducting black hole collision simulations. These simulations are intended to support analysis of gravitational wave observations of merging black holes.

Al Piskun at 23:57, 24 May 2026

2026-05-24T23:57:13Z

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 | name                 = BlackHoles@Home
 | logo                 = Bh.png
 | screenshot           =
 | caption              = Planned volunteer computing project for numerical relativity simulations
@@ Line 16: / Line 17: @@
 | programming language = C, C++, Python (NRPy+ framework)
 | operating system     =
 | website              = {{URL|https://blackholesathome.net/}}

Al Piskun at 23:53, 24 May 2026

2026-05-24T23:53:34Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:53, 24 May 2026
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	~~[[File:{{#setmainimage:bh.png}}\|alt=BlackHoles@Home logo image\|center\|frameless]]~~{{Infobox software		{{Infobox software
	\| name = BlackHoles@Home		\| name = BlackHoles@Home
	\| logo = Bh.png		\| logo = Bh.png
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	}}		}}
			[[File:{{#setmainimage:bh.png}}\|alt=BlackHoles@Home logo image\|center\|frameless]]
	[https://blackholesathome.net/ '''''BlackHoles@Home'''''] will be a '''''[[wikipedia:Volunteer computing\|volunteer distributed computing]]''''' project seeking assistance in conducting black hole collision simulations. These simulations are intended to support analysis of gravitational wave observations of merging black holes.		[https://blackholesathome.net/ '''''BlackHoles@Home'''''] will be a '''''[[wikipedia:Volunteer computing\|volunteer distributed computing]]''''' project seeking assistance in conducting black hole collision simulations. These simulations are intended to support analysis of gravitational wave observations of merging black holes.

Al Piskun at 15:18, 20 May 2026

2026-05-20T15:18:18Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:18, 20 May 2026
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	[[File:{{#setmainimage:bh.png}}\|alt=BlackHoles@Home logo image\|center\|frameless]]{{Infobox software		[[File:{{#setmainimage:bh.png}}\|alt=BlackHoles@Home logo image\|center\|frameless]]{{Infobox software
	\| name ~~= BlackHoles@Home~~		\| name = BlackHoles@Home
	~~\| title~~ = BlackHoles@Home		\| logo = Bh.png
	\| logo = Bh.png		\| screenshot =
	\| screenshot =		\| caption = Planned volunteer computing project for numerical relativity simulations
	\| caption = Planned volunteer computing project for numerical relativity simulations
	\| developer = Etienne Research Group (Prof. Z. Etienne)		\| status = Not Started
	\| released = Not released		\| category = Astrophysics
	\| ~~latest_release_version~~ = ~~N/A~~		\| compute =
	~~\| programming_language = C, C++, Python (NRPy+ framework)<ref>~~{{~~cite web~~\|~~url=~~https://github.com/nrpy/nrpy\|~~title~~=NRPy+ ~~GitHub repository}}</ref>~~		\| dependencies =
	\| ~~operating_system~~ = ~~Cross-platform (BOINC client)~~
	\| ~~platform~~ = ~~BOINC distributed computing framework<ref>~~{{~~cite web~~\|~~url=~~https://~~boinc~~.~~berkeley.edu~~/~~\|title=BOINC: Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing~~}}~~</ref>~~		\| developer = Etienne Research Group (Prof. Z. Etienne)
	~~\| genre = Volunteer computing, numerical relativity~~		\| released = Not released
	\| license = Open-source components (NRPy+, SymPy)<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.sympy.org/\|title=SymPy Computer Algebra System}}</ref>		\| repository = {{URL\|https://github.com/nrpy/nrpy}}
	~~\| website = https://blackholesathome.net/~~
	~~\| status = Planned / not launched~~		\| programming language = C, C++, Python (NRPy+ framework)
			\| operating system =

			\| website = {{URL\|https://blackholesathome.net/}}
			\| license = Open-source components (NRPy+, SymPy)<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.sympy.org/\|title=SymPy Computer Algebra System}}</ref>

	}}		}}

Al Piskun: infobox

2026-05-19T17:53:00Z

infobox

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[File:{{#setmainimage:bh.png}}|alt=BlackHoles@Home logo image|center|frameless]]
+[[File:{{#setmainimage:bh.png}}|alt=BlackHoles@Home logo image|center|frameless]]{{Infobox software
 == Why BlackHoles@Home? ==
-The two-body problem, which governs the motion of two orbiting point masses bound by gravity, can be solved on the back of an envelope in Newtonian physics. In Einsteinian gravity, the two-body problem consists of two orbiting black holes. Due to the extreme complexity of solving Einstein's equations of gravity (general relativity), it took 90 years (1915-2005) to compute the motion of two orbiting black holes, and the feat was only made possible with the aid of supercomputers. Unlike Newton's understanding of gravity, general relativity predicts that two orbiting black holes will emit gravitational waves. Since this emission saps the orbital energy from the black holes, they will inspiral and merge to form a single, bigger black hole.
+Accurate gravitational waveform catalogs are required to interpret signals detected by observatories such as LIGO and Virgo. These catalogs are typically generated using supercomputer-scale numerical relativity simulations.
-Ten years later, in 2015, the 90-year effort was validated: humanity directly detected gravitational waves for the first time, emitted from the inspiral and merger of two black holes. This Nobel Prize-winning discovery brought the field of solving Einstein's equations on supercomputers into mainstream astronomy, as the observed gravitational waves must be compared with catalogs of supercomputer simulations to extract important information about the black holes. As gravitational wave telescopes become more sensitive, we need to both greatly increase the size of these catalogs and improve the accuracy of the simulations.
+BlackHoles@Home is intended to reduce the computational cost of such simulations by approximately an order of magnitude or more through optimized numerical grids and efficient coordinate systems.
-BlackHoles@Home builds on efforts over the past 15 years to solve Einstein's equations on numerical grids that are roughly 100 times more computationally efficient than other techniques. Such improved efficiency, combined with advances in consumer-grade processors and memory chips, enables BlackHoles@Home to perform state-of-the-art black hole inspiral and merger simulations on consumer-grade desktops for the first time.
+== Methods ==
-In 2018, the idea behind BlackHoles@Home was first announced, and excellent progress toward our goal of launching a BOINC project has been made each year. We hope to have a fully functional and state-of-the-art app ready within the next year, and the BOINC project will be launched shortly after.
+BOINC has been widely used in scientific distributed computing projects such as SETI@home and Einstein@Home.
-== Goal ==
+== Project Status ==
-BlackHoles@Home aims to reduce the cost of numerical relativity black hole and neutron star binary simulations by ~100x, through adoption of numerical grids that fully exploit near-symmetries in these systems.
+As of its last public description, BlackHoles@Home remains a planned project and has not yet been launched as an active BOINC project. Development efforts have focused primarily on the underlying numerical relativity software stack rather than a production volunteer computing deployment.
-With this cost savings, black hole binary merger simulations can be performed entirely on a consumer-grade desktop (or laptop) computer.[https://etienneresearch.com/]
+== Team and Funding ==
-== Methods ==
+== Related Work ==
-BlackHoles@Home leverages recent advances in solving Einstein's equations in [https://github.com/zachetienne/nrpytutorial/blob/master/Tutorial-BSSN_formulation.ipynb solving Einstein's equations in singular curvilinear coordinates] (including spherical-like coordinates), to solve the dynamics of binary black hole inspirals and mergers on consumer-grade hardware. It makes extensive use of and was co-developed alongside our [https://github.com/nrpy/nrpy open-source NRPy+ code generation framework], which makes use of [https://www.sympy.org/ the free & open-source Sympy computer algebra system] to convert complex mathematical expressions into highly optimized C code. NRPy+ was written with BlackHoles@Home in mind as its primary application.
+* [[wikipedia:Numerical relativity]]
-== Project team / Sponsors ==
+== References ==
-Prof. Z. Etienne. Primarily funded by NSF grant PHY-1806596. It is also funded by NSF EPSCoR Grant 1458952 and NASA grants 80NSSC18K0538 and 80NSSC18K1488.
+<references />

Zachetienne: rewording

2024-03-23T17:49:03Z

rewording

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:49, 23 March 2024
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	[[File:{{#setmainimage:bh.png}}\|alt=BlackHoles@Home logo image\|center\|frameless]]		[[File:{{#setmainimage:bh.png}}\|alt=BlackHoles@Home logo image\|center\|frameless]]

	[https://blackholesathome.net/ '''''BlackHoles@Home'''''] will be a '''''[[wikipedia:Volunteer computing\|volunteer distributed computing]]''''' project seeking your assistance ~~to execute simulations of~~ black hole ~~collisions~~. These simulations ~~help us extract~~ important science from gravitational wave observations of colliding black holes.[[File:Image.png\|thumb\|<small>BlackHoles@Home numerical grid structure, which is ~100x more efficient than other techniques (requiring supercomputers), enabling black hole inspiral and merger calculations to be performed on consumer-grade hardware.</small>]]		[https://blackholesathome.net/ '''''BlackHoles@Home'''''] will be a '''''[[wikipedia:Volunteer computing\|volunteer distributed computing]]''''' project seeking your assistance in conducting black hole collision simulations. These simulations are essential for extracting important science from gravitational wave observations of colliding black holes.[[File:Image.png\|thumb\|<small>BlackHoles@Home numerical grid structure, which is ~100x more efficient than other techniques (requiring supercomputers), enabling black hole inspiral and merger calculations to be performed on consumer-grade hardware.</small>]]
	== Why BlackHoles@Home? ==		== Why BlackHoles@Home? ==
	The two-body problem, which governs the motion of two orbiting point masses bound by gravity, can be solved on the back of an envelope in Newtonian physics. In Einsteinian gravity, the two-body problem consists of two orbiting black holes. Due to the extreme complexity of solving Einstein's equations of gravity (general relativity), it took 90 years (1915-2005) to compute the motion of two orbiting black holes, and the feat was only made possible with the aid of supercomputers. Unlike Newton's understanding of gravity, general relativity predicts that two orbiting black holes will emit gravitational waves. Since this emission saps the orbital energy from the black holes, they will inspiral and merge to form a single, bigger black hole.		The two-body problem, which governs the motion of two orbiting point masses bound by gravity, can be solved on the back of an envelope in Newtonian physics. In Einsteinian gravity, the two-body problem consists of two orbiting black holes. Due to the extreme complexity of solving Einstein's equations of gravity (general relativity), it took 90 years (1915-2005) to compute the motion of two orbiting black holes, and the feat was only made possible with the aid of supercomputers. Unlike Newton's understanding of gravity, general relativity predicts that two orbiting black holes will emit gravitational waves. Since this emission saps the orbital energy from the black holes, they will inspiral and merge to form a single, bigger black hole.

Zachetienne: rewording

2024-03-23T17:47:32Z

rewording

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:47, 23 March 2024
Line 1:		Line 1:
	[[File:{{#setmainimage:bh.png}}\|alt=BlackHoles@Home logo image\|center\|frameless]]		[[File:{{#setmainimage:bh.png}}\|alt=BlackHoles@Home logo image\|center\|frameless]]

	[https://blackholesathome.net/ '''''BlackHoles@Home'''''] will be a '''''[[wikipedia:Volunteer computing\|volunteer distributed computing]]''''' project ~~that needs~~ your ~~help~~ to ~~run Black~~ hole ~~collision~~ simulations ~~to maximize the~~ science ~~gained~~ from gravitational wave observations.[[File:Image.png\|thumb\|<small>BlackHoles@Home numerical grid structure, which is ~100x more efficient than other techniques (requiring supercomputers), enabling black hole inspiral and merger calculations to be performed on consumer-grade hardware.</small>]]		[https://blackholesathome.net/ '''''BlackHoles@Home'''''] will be a '''''[[wikipedia:Volunteer computing\|volunteer distributed computing]]''''' project seeking your assistance to execute simulations of black hole collisions. These simulations help us extract important science from gravitational wave observations of colliding black holes.[[File:Image.png\|thumb\|<small>BlackHoles@Home numerical grid structure, which is ~100x more efficient than other techniques (requiring supercomputers), enabling black hole inspiral and merger calculations to be performed on consumer-grade hardware.</small>]]
	== Why BlackHoles@Home? ==		== Why BlackHoles@Home? ==
	The two-body problem, which governs the motion of two orbiting point masses bound by gravity, can be solved on the back of an envelope in Newtonian physics. In Einsteinian gravity, the two-body problem consists of two orbiting black holes. Due to the extreme complexity of solving Einstein's equations of gravity (general relativity), it took 90 years (1915-2005) to compute the motion of two orbiting black holes, and the feat was only made possible with the aid of supercomputers. Unlike Newton's understanding of gravity, general relativity predicts that two orbiting black holes will emit gravitational waves. Since this emission saps the orbital energy from the black holes, they will inspiral and merge to form a single, bigger black hole.		The two-body problem, which governs the motion of two orbiting point masses bound by gravity, can be solved on the back of an envelope in Newtonian physics. In Einsteinian gravity, the two-body problem consists of two orbiting black holes. Due to the extreme complexity of solving Einstein's equations of gravity (general relativity), it took 90 years (1915-2005) to compute the motion of two orbiting black holes, and the feat was only made possible with the aid of supercomputers. Unlike Newton's understanding of gravity, general relativity predicts that two orbiting black holes will emit gravitational waves. Since this emission saps the orbital energy from the black holes, they will inspiral and merge to form a single, bigger black hole.

Al Piskun at 22:31, 16 March 2024

2024-03-16T22:31:25Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:31, 16 March 2024
Line 1:		Line 1:
	[[File:{{#setmainimage:bh.png}}\|alt=BlackHoles@Home logo image\|center\|frameless]]		[[File:{{#setmainimage:bh.png}}\|alt=BlackHoles@Home logo image\|center\|frameless]]

	[https://blackholesathome.net/ '''''BlackHoles@Home'''''] will be a '''''[[wikipedia:Volunteer computing\|volunteer distributed computing]]''''' project that needs your help to run Black hole collision simulations to maximize the science gained from gravitational wave observations.		[https://blackholesathome.net/ '''''BlackHoles@Home'''''] will be a '''''[[wikipedia:Volunteer computing\|volunteer distributed computing]]''''' project that needs your help to run Black hole collision simulations to maximize the science gained from gravitational wave observations.[[File:Image.png\|thumb\|<small>BlackHoles@Home numerical grid structure, which is ~100x more efficient than other techniques (requiring supercomputers), enabling black hole inspiral and merger calculations to be performed on consumer-grade hardware.</small>]]

	== Why BlackHoles@Home? ==		== Why BlackHoles@Home? ==
	The two-body problem, which governs the motion of two orbiting point masses bound by gravity, can be solved on the back of an envelope in Newtonian physics. In Einsteinian gravity, the two-body problem consists of two orbiting black holes. Due to the extreme complexity of solving Einstein's equations of gravity (general relativity), it took 90 years (1915-2005) to compute the motion of two orbiting black holes, and the feat was only made possible with the aid of supercomputers. Unlike Newton's understanding of gravity, general relativity predicts that two orbiting black holes will emit gravitational waves. Since this emission saps the orbital energy from the black holes, they will inspiral and merge to form a single, bigger black hole.		The two-body problem, which governs the motion of two orbiting point masses bound by gravity, can be solved on the back of an envelope in Newtonian physics. In Einsteinian gravity, the two-body problem consists of two orbiting black holes. Due to the extreme complexity of solving Einstein's equations of gravity (general relativity), it took 90 years (1915-2005) to compute the motion of two orbiting black holes, and the feat was only made possible with the aid of supercomputers. Unlike Newton's understanding of gravity, general relativity predicts that two orbiting black holes will emit gravitational waves. Since this emission saps the orbital energy from the black holes, they will inspiral and merge to form a single, bigger black hole.
Line 13:		Line 12:

	== Goal ==		== Goal ==
	[[File:Image.png\|thumb\|BlackHoles@Home numerical grid structure, which is ~100x more efficient than other techniques (requiring supercomputers), enabling black hole inspiral and merger calculations to be performed on consumer-grade hardware.]]
	BlackHoles@Home aims to reduce the cost of numerical relativity black hole and neutron star binary simulations by ~100x, through adoption of numerical grids that fully exploit near-symmetries in these systems.		BlackHoles@Home aims to reduce the cost of numerical relativity black hole and neutron star binary simulations by ~100x, through adoption of numerical grids that fully exploit near-symmetries in these systems.

Al Piskun: image location

2024-03-16T19:48:57Z

image location

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:48, 16 March 2024
Line 13:		Line 13:

	== Goal ==		== Goal ==
			[[File:Image.png\|thumb\|BlackHoles@Home numerical grid structure, which is ~100x more efficient than other techniques (requiring supercomputers), enabling black hole inspiral and merger calculations to be performed on consumer-grade hardware.]]
	BlackHoles@Home aims to reduce the cost of numerical relativity black hole and neutron star binary simulations by ~100x, through adoption of numerical grids that fully exploit near-symmetries in these systems.		BlackHoles@Home aims to reduce the cost of numerical relativity black hole and neutron star binary simulations by ~100x, through adoption of numerical grids that fully exploit near-symmetries in these systems.

Line 18:		Line 19:

	== Methods ==		== Methods ==
	[[File:Image.png\|thumb\|BlackHoles@Home numerical grid structure, which is ~100x more efficient than other techniques (requiring supercomputers), enabling black hole inspiral and merger calculations to be performed on consumer-grade hardware.]]
	BlackHoles@Home leverages recent advances in solving Einstein's equations in [https://github.com/zachetienne/nrpytutorial/blob/master/Tutorial-BSSN_formulation.ipynb solving Einstein's equations in singular curvilinear coordinates] (including spherical-like coordinates), to solve the dynamics of binary black hole inspirals and mergers on consumer-grade hardware. It makes extensive use of and was co-developed alongside our [https://github.com/nrpy/nrpy open-source NRPy+ code generation framework], which makes use of [https://www.sympy.org/ the free & open-source Sympy computer algebra system] to convert complex mathematical expressions into highly optimized C code. NRPy+ was written with BlackHoles@Home in mind as its primary application.		BlackHoles@Home leverages recent advances in solving Einstein's equations in [https://github.com/zachetienne/nrpytutorial/blob/master/Tutorial-BSSN_formulation.ipynb solving Einstein's equations in singular curvilinear coordinates] (including spherical-like coordinates), to solve the dynamics of binary black hole inspirals and mergers on consumer-grade hardware. It makes extensive use of and was co-developed alongside our [https://github.com/nrpy/nrpy open-source NRPy+ code generation framework], which makes use of [https://www.sympy.org/ the free & open-source Sympy computer algebra system] to convert complex mathematical expressions into highly optimized C code. NRPy+ was written with BlackHoles@Home in mind as its primary application.

	== Project team / Sponsors ==		== Project team / Sponsors ==
	Prof. Z. Etienne. Primarily funded by NSF grant PHY-1806596. It is also funded by NSF EPSCoR Grant 1458952 and NASA grants 80NSSC18K0538 and 80NSSC18K1488.		Prof. Z. Etienne. Primarily funded by NSF grant PHY-1806596. It is also funded by NSF EPSCoR Grant 1458952 and NASA grants 80NSSC18K0538 and 80NSSC18K1488.

Zachetienne: improved intro paragraph

2024-03-14T20:12:56Z

improved intro paragraph

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:12, 14 March 2024
Line 4:		Line 4:

	== Why BlackHoles@Home? ==		== Why BlackHoles@Home? ==
	~~While the~~ two-body problem, which governs the motion of two orbiting point masses bound by gravity, can be solved on the back of an envelope in Newtonian physics~~, in~~ Einsteinian gravity, the ~~closest analogue is~~ two orbiting black holes. Due to the extreme complexity of solving Einstein's equations of gravity (general relativity), it took 90 years (1915-2005) to compute the motion of two orbiting black holes and the ~~use~~ of supercomputers. Unlike Newton's understanding of gravity, general relativity predicts that two orbiting black holes will emit gravitational waves. Since this emission saps the orbital energy from the black holes, they will inspiral and merge to form a single, bigger black hole.		The two-body problem, which governs the motion of two orbiting point masses bound by gravity, can be solved on the back of an envelope in Newtonian physics. In Einsteinian gravity, the two-body problem consists of two orbiting black holes. Due to the extreme complexity of solving Einstein's equations of gravity (general relativity), it took 90 years (1915-2005) to compute the motion of two orbiting black holes, and the feat was only made possible with the aid of supercomputers. Unlike Newton's understanding of gravity, general relativity predicts that two orbiting black holes will emit gravitational waves. Since this emission saps the orbital energy from the black holes, they will inspiral and merge to form a single, bigger black hole.

	Ten years later, in 2015, the 90-year effort was validated: humanity directly detected gravitational waves for the first time, emitted from the inspiral and merger of two black holes. This Nobel Prize-winning discovery brought the field of solving Einstein's equations on supercomputers into mainstream astronomy, as the observed gravitational waves must be compared with catalogs of supercomputer simulations to extract important information about the black holes. As gravitational wave telescopes become more sensitive, we need to both greatly increase the size of these catalogs and improve the accuracy of the simulations.		Ten years later, in 2015, the 90-year effort was validated: humanity directly detected gravitational waves for the first time, emitted from the inspiral and merger of two black holes. This Nobel Prize-winning discovery brought the field of solving Einstein's equations on supercomputers into mainstream astronomy, as the observed gravitational waves must be compared with catalogs of supercomputer simulations to extract important information about the black holes. As gravitational wave telescopes become more sensitive, we need to both greatly increase the size of these catalogs and improve the accuracy of the simulations.