CAUCHY-PERTURBATIVE MATCHING AND OUTER BOUNDARY-CONDITIONS - METHODS AND TESTS - ART. NO. 044005

We present a new method of extracting gravitational radiation from thr ee-dimensional numerical relativity codes and providing outer boundary conditions. Our approach matches the solution of a Cauchy evolution o f Einstein's a equations to a set of one-dimensional linear wave equat ions on a curved background. We illustrate the mathematical properties of our approach and discuss a numerical module we have constructed fo r this purpose. This module implements the perturbative matching appro ach in connection-with a generic three-dimensional numerical relativit y simulation. Tests of its accuracy and second-order convergence are p resented with analytic linear wave data.