No Arabic abstract
A waveform model for the eccentric binary black holes named SEOBNRE has been used to analyze the LIGO-Virgos gravitational wave data by several groups. The accuracy of this model has been validated by comparing it with numerical relativity. However, SEOBNRE is a time-domain model, and the efficiency for generating waveforms is a bottleneck in data analysis. To overcome this disadvantage, we offer a reduced-order surrogate model for eccentric binary black holes based on the SEOBNRE waveforms. This surrogate model (SEOBNRE_S) can simulate the complete inspiral-merger-ringdown waves with enough accuracy, covering eccentricities from 0 to 0.25 (0.1), and mass ratio from 1:1 to 5:1 (2:1) for nonspinning (spinning) binaries. The speed of waveform generation is accelerated about $10^2 sim 10^3$ times than the original SEOBNRE model. Therefore SEOBNRE_S could be helpful in the analysis of LIGO data to find potential eccentricities.
Numerical relativity (NR) simulations provide the most accurate binary black hole gravitational waveforms, but are prohibitively expensive for applications such as parameter estimation. Surrogate models of NR waveforms have been shown to be both fast and accurate. However, NR-based surrogate models are limited by the training waveforms length, which is typically about 20 orbits before merger. We remedy this by hybridizing the NR waveforms using both post-Newtonian and effective one body waveforms for the early inspiral. We present NRHybSur3dq8, a surrogate model for hybridized nonprecessing numerical relativity waveforms, that is valid for the entire LIGO band (starting at $20~text{Hz}$) for stellar mass binaries with total masses as low as $2.25,M_{odot}$. We include the $ell leq 4$ and $(5,5)$ spin-weighted spherical harmonic modes but not the $(4,1)$ or $(4,0)$ modes. This model has been trained against hybridized waveforms based on 104 NR waveforms with mass ratios $qleq8$, and $|chi_{1z}|,|chi_{2z}| leq 0.8$, where $chi_{1z}$ ($chi_{2z}$) is the spin of the heavier (lighter) BH in the direction of orbital angular momentum. The surrogate reproduces the hybrid waveforms accurately, with mismatches $lesssim 3times10^{-4}$ over the mass range $2.25M_{odot} leq M leq 300 M_{odot}$. At high masses ($Mgtrsim40M_{odot}$), where the merger and ringdown are more prominent, we show roughly two orders of magnitude improvement over existing waveform models. We also show that the surrogate works well even when extrapolated outside its training parameter space range, including at spins as large as 0.998. Finally, we show that this model accurately reproduces the spheroidal-spherical mode mixing present in the NR ringdown signal.
Gravitational waveforms from the inspiral and ring-down stages of the binary black hole coalescences can be modelled accurately by approximation/perturbation techniques in general relativity. Recent progress in numerical relativity has enabled us to model also the non-perturbative merger phase of the binary black-hole coalescence problem. This enables us to emph{coherently} search for all three stages of the coalescence of non-spinning binary black holes using a single template bank. Taking our motivation from these results, we propose a family of template waveforms which can model the inspiral, merger, and ring-down stages of the coalescence of non-spinning binary black holes that follow quasi-circular inspiral. This two-dimensional template family is explicitly parametrized by the physical parameters of the binary. We show that the template family is not only emph{effectual} in detecting the signals from black hole coalescences, but also emph{faithful} in estimating the parameters of the binary. We compare the sensitivity of a search (in the context of different ground-based interferometers) using all three stages of the black hole coalescence with other template-based searches which look for individual stages separately. We find that the proposed search is significantly more sensitive than other template-based searches for a substantial mass-range, potentially bringing about remarkable improvement in the event-rate of ground-based interferometers. As part of this work, we also prescribe a general procedure to construct interpolated template banks using non-spinning black hole waveforms produced by numerical relativity.
Current template-based gravitational wave searches for compact binary coalescences (CBC) use waveform models that neglect the higher order modes content of the gravitational radiation emitted, considering only the quadrupolar $(ell,|m|)=(2,2)$ modes. We study the effect of such a neglection for the case of aligned-spin CBC searches for equal-spin (and non-spinning) binary black holes in the context of t
Binary black holes on quasicircular orbits with spins aligned with their orbital angular momentum have been testbeds for analytic and numerical relativity for decades, not least because symmetry ensures that such configurations are equilibrium solutions to the spin-precession equations. In this work, we show that these solutions can be unstable when the spin of the higher-mass black hole is aligned with the orbital angular momentum and the spin of the lower-mass black hole is anti-aligned. Spins in these configurations are unstable to precession to large misalignment when the binary separation $r$ is between the values $r_{rm udpm}= (sqrt{chi_1} pm sqrt{q chi_2})^4 (1-q)^{-2} M$, where $M$ is the total mass, $q equiv m_2/m_1$ is the mass ratio, and $chi_1$ ($chi_2$) is the dimensionless spin of the more (less) massive black hole. This instability exists for a wide range of spin magnitudes and mass ratios and can occur in the strong-field regime near merger. We describe the origin and nature of the instability using recently developed analytical techniques to characterize fully generic spin precession. This instability provides a channel to circumvent astrophysical spin alignment at large binary separations, allowing significant spin precession prior to merger affecting both gravitational-wave and electromagnetic signatures of stellar-mass and supermassive binary black holes.
Gravitational wave astrophysics relies heavily on the use of matched filtering both to detect signals in noisy data from detectors, and to perform parameter estimation on those signals. Matched filtering relies upon prior knowledge of the signals expected to be produced by a range of astrophysical systems, such as binary black holes. These waveform signals can be computed using numerical relativity techniques, where the Einstein field equations are solved numerically, and the signal is extracted from the simulation. Numerical relativity simulations are, however, computationally expensive, leading to the need for a surrogate model which can predict waveform signals in regions of the physical parameter space which have not been probed directly by simulation. We present a method for producing such a surrogate using Gaussian process regression which is trained directly on waveforms generated by numerical relativity. This model returns not just a single interpolated value for the waveform at a new point, but a full posterior probability distribution on the predicted value. This model is therefore an ideal component in a Bayesian analysis framework, through which the uncertainty in the interpolation can be taken into account when performing parameter estimation of signals.