Gmunu: toward multigrid based Einstein field equations solver for general-relativistic hydrodynamics simulations

We present a new open-source axisymmetric general relativistic hydrodynamics code Gmunu (general-relativistic multigrid numerical solver) which uses a multigrid method to solve the elliptic metric equations in the conformally flat condition (CFC) approximation on a spherical grid. Most of the existing relativistic hydrodynamics codes are based on formulations which rely on a free-evolution approach of numerical relativity, where the metric variables are determined by hyperbolic equations without enforcing the constraint equations in the evolution. On the other hand, although a fully constrained-evolution formulation is theoretical more appealing and should lead to more stable and accurate simulations, such an approach is not widely used because solving the elliptic-type constraint equations during the evolution is in general more computationally expensive than hyperbolic free-evolution schemes. Multigrid methods solve differential equations with a hierarchy of discretizations and its computational cost is generally lower than other methods such as direct methods, relaxation methods, successive over-relaxation. With multigrid acceleration, one can solve the metric equations on a comparable time scale as solving the hydrodynamics equations. This would potentially make a fully constrained-evolution formulation more affordable in numerical relativity simulations. As a first step to assess the performance and robustness of multigrid methods in relativistic simulations, we develop a hydrodynamics code that makes use of standard finite-volume methods coupled with a multigrid metric solver to solve the Einstein equations in the CFC approximation. In this paper, we present the methodology and implementation of our code Gmunu and its properties and performance in some benchmarking relativistic hydrodynamics problems. (paper)