Home

Welcome to the GRChombo wiki!

We have put together the following set of documentation which we hope will help you to get started using GRChombo. A contents bar should be shown on the right hand side of the wiki (or below if you are on a small screen) to help you navigate the documentation.

Here are some suggestions on where to start depending on what you want to know:

• I want to know if GRChombo is the right code for my research project

The current capabilities of the GRChombo code are detailed on the page Capabilities. There are more detailed descriptions of some key features in Existing tools. Note that GRChombo is not designed to be used as a "black box" numerical relativity code - you will need to be willing to take time to understand how the code works, and to write new tools for your specific application if required. The code is designed so as to be easy and robust to adapt to new problems, but that adaptability inevitability comes at a cost in terms of simplicity of use.

In particular, if you are a supervisor planning to ask your student to work with GRChombo, please consider whether you have sufficient background in numerical relativity and C++ coding to support them properly. We are unable to provide in depth support and whilst we have done our best to make it accessible, the code is far from straightforward for new users, especially those without an HPC background. For masters projects, you may find the simpler 1D code engrenage a better choice as it can run on a standard laptop.

• I want to know how to compile and run some examples to see how it works, like a binary black hole merger

You will need to follow the Getting started part of the wiki. It is designed to be worked through sequentially and assumes only a basic knowledge of the command line. at the level of a new PhD student (we've all been there...). Note that although some guidance on laptop compilation is given, to run any kind of meaningful example you will need access to a high performance computing cluster.

• I have some experience in numerical relativity and want to understand how to use and amend the code for my research project

You will probably still need to follow the compilation instructions in Getting started before moving on to the sections on Doing physics with GRChombo. These pages only give a broad outline of the structure of the code and our design philosophy for new examples. If you need further guidance you should contact us, and we will do our best to help. (However, note that the informal GRChombo motto is "if you want it, you build it".) Please note our License and Citation guidance.

• I use GRChombo and I want to report a bug

Please file an issue in GitHub detailing the exact version of the code you are using (ideally identified with the commit hash) and provide sufficient detail for us to recreate the problem. You can also Contact us, but raising an issue is preferred if the problem is code related.

If you updated an old version of the code to the latest version, you may want to check the latest updates as a potential cause of your issues.

• I use GRChombo and I want to contribute to the code

Great! Please see Contributing to GRChombo for more details.

DISCLAIMER: Whilst we have done our best to only include things which are well tested, we can't guarantee that everything works perfectly. Use of GRChombo is at your own risk!