Constraining black-hole binary spin precession and nutation with sequential prior conditioning

Abstract

We investigate the detectability of sub-dominant spin effects in merging black-hole binaries using current gravitational-wave data. Using a phenomenological model that separates the spin dynamics into precession (azimuthal motion) and nutation (polar motion), we present constraints on the resulting amplitudes and frequencies. We also explore current constraints on the spin morphologies, indicating if binaries are trapped near spin-orbit resonances. We dissect such weak effects from the signals using a sequential prior conditioning approach, where parameters are progressively re-sampled from their posterior distribution. This allows us to investigate whether the data contain additional information beyond what is already provided by quantities that are better measured, namely the masses and the effective spin. For the current catalog of events, we find no significant measurements of weak spin effects such as nutation and spin-orbit locking. We synthesize a source with a high nutational amplitude and show that near-future detections will allow us to place powerful constraints, hinting that we may be at the cusp of detecting spin nutations in gravitational-wave data.

21 pages, 10 figures, 1 table (includes edits from erratum)

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• GW190521: tracing imprints of spin-precession on the most massive black hole binary
• Systematic biases due to waveform mismodeling in parametrized post-Einsteinian tests of general relativity: The impact of neglecting spin precession and higher modes
• Efficient multi-timescale dynamics of precessing black-hole binaries
• Distinguishing binary black hole precessional morphologies with gravitational wave observations
• Measuring spin precession from massive black hole binaries with gravitational waves: insights from time-domain signal morphology
• Characterization of merging black holes with two precessing spins
• Signatures of spin precession and nutation in isolated black-hole binaries