Toward faithful templates for non-spinning binary black holes using the effective-one-body approach

Abstract

We present an accurate approximation of the full gravitational radiation waveforms generated in the merger of non-eccentric systems of two non-spinning black holes. Utilizing information from recent numerical relativity simulations and the natural flexibility of the effective-one-body (EOB) model, we extend the latter so that it can successfully match the numerical relativity waveforms during the last stages of inspiral, merger and ringdown. By ``successfully'' here, we mean with phase differences < 8% of a gravitational-wave cycle accumulated by the end of the ringdown phase, maximizing only over time of arrival and initial phase. We obtain this result by simply adding a 4-post-Newtonian order correction in the EOB radial potential and determining the (constant) coefficient by imposing high-matching performances with numerical waveforms of mass ratios m1/m2 = 1, 3/2, 2 and 4, m1 and m2 being the individual black-hole masses. The final black-hole mass and spin predicted by the numerical simulations are used to determine the ringdown frequency and decay time of three quasi-normal-mode damped sinusoids that are attached to the EOB inspiral-(plunge) waveform at the EOB light-ring. The EOB waveforms might be tested and further improved in the future by comparison with extremely long and accurate inspiral numerical-relativity waveforms. They may already be employed for coherent searches and parameter estimation of gravitational waves emitted by non-spinning coalescing binary black holes with ground-based laser-interferometer detectors.

15 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Inspiral, merger and ringdown of unequal mass black hole binaries: a multipolar analysis
• Faithful Effective-One-Body waveforms of small-mass-ratio coalescing black-hole binaries
• Black Hole Mergers and Unstable Circular Orbits
• Anatomy of the binary black hole recoil: A multipolar analysis
• Matched Filtering of Numerical Relativity Templates of Spinning Binary Black Holes
• Final spin of a coalescing black-hole binary: an Effective-One-Body approach

Cited by in corpus (15)

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• Effective one body approach to the dynamics of two spinning black holes with next-to-leading order spin-orbit coupling
• Where post-Newtonian and numerical-relativity waveforms meet
• Comparing Effective-One-Body gravitational waveforms to accurate numerical data
• Accurate Effective-One-Body waveforms of inspiralling and coalescing black-hole binaries
• Faithful Effective-One-Body waveforms of equal-mass coalescing black-hole binaries
• Anatomy of the binary black hole recoil: A multipolar analysis
• Comparison between numerical-relativity and post-Newtonian waveforms from spinning binaries: the orbital hang-up case
• Eccentric binary black-hole mergers: The transition from inspiral to plunge in general relativity
• Foundations of multiple black hole evolutions
• Gravitational-wave data analysis using binary black-hole waveforms
• Introductory lectures on the Effective One Body formalism
• Ineffectiveness of Padé resummation techniques in post-Newtonian approximations
• Estimating total momentum at finite distances
• Gravitational waves from black-hole mergers