No Arabic abstract
Binary-black-hole orbits precess when the black-hole spins are mis-aligned with the binarys orbital angular momentum. The apparently complicated dynamics can in most cases be described as simple precession of the orbital angular momentum about an approximately fixed total angular momentum. However, the imprint of the precession on the observed gravitational-wave signal is yet more complicated, with a non-trivial time-varying dependence on black-hole dynamics, the binarys orientation and the detector polarization. As a result, it is difficult to predict under which conditions precession effects are measurable in gravitational-wave observations, and their impact on both signal detection and source characterization. We show that the observed waveform can be simplified by decomposing it as a power series in a new precession parameter $b = tan(beta/2)$, where $beta$ is the opening angle between the orbital and total angular momenta. The power series is made up of five harmonics, with frequencies that differ by the binarys precession frequency, and individually do not exhibit amplitude and phase modulations. In many cases, the waveform can be well approximated by the two leading harmonics. In this approximation we are able to obtain a simple picture of precession as caused by the beating of two waveforms of similar frequency. This enables us to identify regions of the parameter space where precession is likely to have an observable effect on the waveform, and to propose a new approach to searching for signals from precessing binaries, based upon the two-harmonic approximation.
The standard post-Newtonian approximation to gravitational waveforms, called T-approximants, from non-spinning black hole binaries are known not to be sufficiently accurate close to the last stable orbit of the system. A new approximation, called P-approximants, is believed to improve the accuracy of the waveforms rendering them applicable up to the last stable orbit. In this study we apply P-approximants to the case of a test-particle in equatorial orbit around a Kerr black hole parameterized by a spin parameter q that takes values between -1 and 1. In order to assess the performance of the two approximants we measure their effectualness (i.e. larger overlaps with the exact signal), and faithfulness (i.e. smaller biases while measuring the parameters of the signal) with the exact (numerical) waveforms. We find that in the case of prograde orbits, that is orbits whose angular momentum is in the same sense as the spin angular momentum of the black hole, T-approximant templates obtain an effectualness of ~ 0.99 for spins q < 0.75. For 0.75 < q < 0.95, the effectualness drops to about 0.82. The P-approximants achieve effectualness of > 0.99 for all spins up to q = 0.95. The bias in the estimation of parameters is much lower in the case of P-approximants than T-approximants. We find that P-approximants are both effectual and faithful and should be more effective than T-approximants as a detection template family when q>0. For q<0 both T- and P-approximants perform equally well so that either of them could be used as a detection template family.
We present the first analytical inspiral-merger-ringdown gravitational waveforms from binary black holes (BBHs) with non-precessing spins, that is based on a description of the late-inspiral, merger and ringdown in full general relativity. By matching a post-Newtonian description of the inspiral to a set of numerical-relativity simulations, we obtain a waveform family with a conveniently small number of physical parameters. These waveforms will allow us to detect a larger parameter space of BBH coalescence, including a considerable fraction of precessing binaries in the comparable-mass regime, thus significantly improving the expected detection rates.
Gravitational waves from binary neutron star (BNS) and black hole/neutron star (BHNS) inspirals are primary sources for detection by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. The tidal forces acting on the neutron stars induce changes in the phase evolution of the gravitational waveform, and these changes can be used to constrain the nuclear equation of state. Current methods of generating BNS and BHNS waveforms rely on either computationally challenging full 3D hydrodynamical simulations or approximate analytic solutions. We introduce a new method for computing inspiral waveforms for BNS/BHNS systems by adding the post-Newtonian (PN) tidal effects to full numerical simulations of binary black holes (BBHs), effectively replacing the nontidal terms in the PN expansion with BBH results. Comparing a waveform generated with this method against a full hydrodynamical simulation of a BNS inspiral yields a phase difference of $<1$ radian over $sim 15$ orbits. The numerical phase accuracy required of BNS simulations to measure the accuracy of the method we present here is estimated as a function of the tidal deformability parameter ${lambda}$.
Gravitational wave emission from extreme mass ratio binaries (EMRBs) should be detectable by the joint NASA-ESA LISA project, spurring interest in analytical and numerical methods for investigating EMRBs. We describe a discontinuous Galerkin (dG) method for solving the distributionally forced 1+1 wave equations which arise when modeling EMRBs via the perturbation theory of Schwarzschild blackholes. Despite the presence of jump discontinuities in the relevant polar and axial gravitational master functions, our dG method achieves global spectral accuracy, provided that we know the instantaneous position, velocity, and acceleration of the small particle. Here these variables are known, since we assume that the particle follows a timelike geodesic of the Schwarzschild geometry. We document the results of several numerical experiments testing our method, and in our concluding section discuss the possible inclusion of gravitational self-force effects.
Inferring astrophysical information from gravitational waves emitted by compact binaries is one of the key science goals of gravitational-wave astronomy. In order to reach the full scientific potential of gravitational-wave experiments we require techniques to mitigate the cost of Bayesian inference, especially as gravitational-wave signal models and analyses become increasingly sophisticated and detailed. Reduced order models (ROMs) of gravitational waveforms can significantly reduce the computational cost of inference by removing redundant computations. In this paper we construct the first reduced order models of gravitational-wave signals that include the effects of spin-precession, inspiral, merger, and ringdown in compact object binaries, and which are valid for component masses describing binary neutron star, binary black hole and mixed binary systems. This work utilizes the waveform model known as IMRPhenomPv2. Our ROM enables the use of a fast reduced order quadrature (ROQ) integration rule which allows us to approximate Bayesian probability density functions at a greatly reduced computational cost. We find that the ROQ rule can be used to speed up inference by factors as high as 300 without introducing systematic bias. This corresponds to a reduction in computational time from around half a year to a half a day, for the longest duration/lowest mass signals. The ROM and ROQ rule are available with the main inference library of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, LALInference.