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Published October 10, 2014 | Submitted + Published
Journal Article Open

Simple Model of Complete Precessing Black-Hole-Binary Gravitational Waveforms

Abstract

The construction of a model of the gravitational-wave (GW) signal from generic configurations of spinning-black-hole binaries, through inspiral, merger, and ringdown, is one of the most pressing theoretical problems in the buildup to the era of GW astronomy. We present the first such model in the frequency domain, PhenomP, which captures the basic phenomenology of the seven-dimensional parameter space of binary configurations with only three key physical parameters. Two of these (the binary's mass ratio and an effective total spin parallel to the orbital angular momentum, which determines the inspiral rate) define an underlying nonprecessing-binary model. The nonprecessing-binary waveforms are then twisted up with approximate expressions for the precessional motion, which require only one additional physical parameter, an effective precession spin, χp. All other parameters (total mass, sky location, orientation and polarization, and initial phase) can be specified trivially. The model is constructed in the frequency domain, which will be essential for efficient GW searches and source measurements. We have tested the model's fidelity for GW applications by comparison against hybrid post-Newtonian-numerical-relativity waveforms at a variety of configurations—although we did not use these numerical simulations in the construction of the model. Our model can be used to develop GW searches, to study the implications for astrophysical measurements, and as a simple conceptual framework to form the basis of generic-binary waveform modeling in the advanced-detector era.

Additional Information

© 2014 American Physical Society. Received 19 August 2014; published 7 October 2014. We thank P. Ajith and S. Fairhurst for useful discussions. P. S. was supported by a DOC-fFORTE-Fellowship of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and was also partially supported by the STFC. M. H. was supported by STFC Grants No. ST/H008438/1 and No. ST/I001085/1, and F. O. and M. P. by Grant No. ST/I001085/1. A. B. and S. H. were supported by the Spanish MIMECO Grants No. FPA2010-16495 and No. CSD2009-00064, European Union FEDER funds, and Conselleria d'Economia i Competitivitat del Govern de les Illes Balears. G. P. was supported by an STFC doctoral training grant. L. H. was supported by the Conseil Général de l'Essonne. Numerical simulations were carried out at ARCCA in Cardiff, the UK DiRAC Data centric cluster, MareNostrum at Barcelona Supercomputing Center–Centro Nacional de Supercomputación, and on the PRACE clusters Hermit, Curie, and SuperMUC.

Attached Files

Published - PhysRevLett.113.151101.pdf

Submitted - 1308.3271v2.pdf

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August 20, 2023
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