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Gravitational waves from coalescing compact binaries are searched using the matched filtering technique. As the model waveform depends on a number of parameters, it is necessary to filter the data through a template bank covering the astrophysically interesting region of the parameter space. The choice of templates is defined by the maximum allowed drop in signal-to-noise ratio due to the discreteness of the template bank. In this paper we describe the template-bank algorithm that was used in the analysis of data from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) and GEO 600 detectors to search for signals from binaries consisting of non-spinning compact objects. Using Monte-Carlo simulations, we study the efficiency of the bank and show that its performance is satisfactory for the design sensitivity curves of ground-based interferometric gravitational wave detectors GEO 600, initial LIGO, advanced LIGO and Virgo. The bank is efficient to search for various compact binaries such as binary primordial black holes, binary neutron stars, binary black holes, as well as a mixed binary consisting of a non-spinning black hole and a neutron star.
We report the construction of a three-dimensional template bank for the search for gravitational waves from inspiralling binaries consisting of spinning compact objects. The parameter space consists of two dimensions describing the mass parameters and one reduced-spin parameter, which describes the secular (non-precessing) spin effects in the waveform. The template placement is based on an efficient stochastic algorithm and makes use of the semi-analytical computation of a metric in the parameter space. We demonstrate that for low-mass ($m_1 + m_2 lesssim 12,M_odot$) binaries, this template bank achieves effective fitting factors $sim0.92$--$0.99$ towards signals from generic spinning binaries in the advanced detector era over the entire parameter space of interest (including binary neutron stars, binary black holes, and black hole-neutron star binaries). This provides a powerful and viable method for searching for gravitational waves from generic spinning low-mass compact binaries. Under the assumption that spin magnitudes of black-holes [neutron-stars] are uniformly distributed between 0--0.98 [0 -- 0.4] and spin angles are isotropically distributed, the expected improvement in the average detection volume (at a fixed signal-to-noise-ratio threshold) of a search using this reduced-spin bank is $sim20-52%$, as compared to a search using a non-spinning bank.
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.
Gravitational waves (GWs) from merging black holes allow for unprecedented probes of strong-field gravity. Testing gravity in this regime requires accurate predictions of gravitational waveform templates in viable extensions of General Relativity. We concentrate on scalar Gauss-Bonnet gravity, one of the most compelling classes of theories appearing as low-energy limit of quantum gravity paradigms, which introduces quadratic curvature corrections to gravity coupled to a scalar field and allows for black hole solutions with scalar-charge. Focusing on inspiralling black hole binaries, we compute the leading-order corrections due to curvature nonlinearities in the GW and scalar waveforms, showing that the new contributions, beyond merely the effect of scalar field, appear at first post-Newtonian order in GWs. We provide ready-to-implement GW polarizations and phasing. Computing the GW phasing in the Fourier domain, we perform a parameter-space study to quantify the detectability of deviations from General Relativity. Our results lay important foundations for future precision tests of gravity with both parametrized and theory-specific searches.
The Christodoulou memory is a nonlinear contribution to the gravitational-wave field that is sourced by the gravitational-wave stress-energy tensor. For quasicircular, inspiralling binaries, the Christodoulou memory produces a growing, nonoscillatory change in the gravitational-wave plus polarization, resulting in the permanent displacement of a pair of freely-falling test masses after the wave has passed. In addition to its nonoscillatory behavior, the Christodoulou memory is interesting because even though it originates from 2.5 post-Newtonian (PN) order multipole interactions, it affects the waveform at leading (Newtonian/quadrupole) order. The memory is also potentially detectable in binary black-hole mergers. While the oscillatory pieces of the gravitational-wave polarizations for quasicircular, inspiralling compact binaries have been computed to 3PN order, the memory contribution to the polarizations has only been calculated to leading order (the next-to-leading order 0.5PN term has previously been shown to vanish). Here the calculation of the memory for quasicircular, inspiralling binaries is extended to 3PN order. While the angular dependence of the memory remains qualitatively unchanged, the PN correction terms tend to reduce the memorys magnitude. Explicit expressions are given for the memory contributions to the plus polarization and the spin-weighted spherical-harmonic modes of the metric and curvature perturbations. Combined with the recent results of Blanchet et al.(2008), this completes the waveform to 3PN order. This paper also discusses: (i) the difficulties in extracting the memory from numerical simulations, (ii) other nonoscillatory effects that enter the waveform at high PN orders, and (iii) issues concerning the observability of the memory.
We describe the application of the lattice covering problem to the placement of templates in a search for continuous gravitational waves from the low-mass X-Ray binary Scorpius X-1. Efficient placement of templates to cover the parameter space at a given maximum mismatch is an application of the sphere covering problem, for which an implementation is available in the LatticeTiling software library. In the case of Sco X-1, potential correlations, in both the prior uncertainty and the mismatch metric, between the orbital period and orbital phase, lead to complications in the efficient construction of the lattice. We define a shearing coordinate transformation which simultaneously minimizes both of these sources of correlation, and allows us to take advantage of the small prior orbital period uncertainty. The resulting lattices have a factor of about 3 fewer templates than the corresponding parameter space grids constructed by the prior straightforward method, allowing a more sensitive search at the same computing cost and maximum mismatch.