SPLINE TECHNIQUES FOR SOLVING RELATIVISTIC CONSERVATION EQUATIONS

We discuss a new numerical method for solving the relativistic hydrody namic equations based upon the basis-spline collocation approach. Anal ytical and numerical results are compared for several problems, includ ing one-dimensional expansions and collisions for which analytical sol utions exist. Our methods, which may be easily and massively paralleli zed, are shown to give numerical results which agree to within a few p ercent of the analytic solutions. We discuss the relevance of the v = z/t scaling solutions for the one-dimensional problem when applied to relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Finally, we discuss applications to three-dimensional problems, and present results for a typical three-d imensional expansion.