Team simulates first merger of 3 black holes on a supercomputer
April 8th, 2008 in Physics / General Physics  The same team of
astrophysicists that cracked the computer code simulating two
black holes crashing and merging together has now, for the first
time, caused a three-black-hole collision.  Manuela Campanelli,
Carlos Lousto and Yosef Zlochower—scientists in Rochester
Institute of Technology’s Center for Computational Relativity
and Gravitation—simulated triplet black holes to test their
breakthrough method that, in 2005, merged two of these large
mass objects on a supercomputer following Einstein’s theory of
general relativity.  The new simulation of multiple black holes
evolving, orbiting and eventually colliding confirmed a robust
computer code free of limitations. The May issue of Physical
Review D will publish the team’s latest findings in the article
“Close Encounters of Three Black Holes,” revealing the distinct
gravitational signature three black holes might produce. The
story will run under the