Improved effective-one-body model of spinning, nonprecessing binary black holes for the era of gravitational-wave astrophysics with advanced detectors

Alejandro Bohé, Lijing Shao, Andrea Taracchini, Alessandra Buonanno, Stanislav Babak, Ian W. Harry, Ian Hinder, Serguei Ossokine, Michael Pürrer, Vivien Raymond, Tony Chu, Heather Fong, Prayush Kumar, Harald P. Pfeiffer, Michael Boyle, Daniel A. Hemberger, Lawrence E. Kidder, Geoffrey Lovelace, Mark A. Scheel, and Béla Szilágyi
Phys. Rev. D 95, 044028 – Published 17 February 2017

Abstract

We improve the accuracy of the effective-one-body (EOB) waveforms that were employed during the first observing run of Advanced LIGO for binaries of spinning, nonprecessing black holes by calibrating them to a set of 141 numerical-relativity (NR) waveforms. The NR simulations expand the domain of calibration toward larger mass ratios and spins, as compared to the previous EOBNR model. Merger-ringdown waveforms computed in black-hole perturbation theory for Kerr spins close to extremal provide additional inputs to the calibration. For the inspiral-plunge phase, we use a Markov-chain Monte Carlo algorithm to efficiently explore the calibration space. For the merger-ringdown phase, we fit the NR signals with phenomenological formulae. After extrapolation of the calibrated model to arbitrary mass ratios and spins, the (dominant-mode) EOBNR waveforms have faithfulness—at design Advanced-LIGO sensitivity—above 99% against all the NR waveforms, including 16 additional waveforms used for validation, when maximizing only on initial phase and time. This implies a negligible loss in event rate due to modeling for these binary configurations. We find that future NR simulations at mass ratios 4 and double spin 0.8 will be crucial to resolving discrepancies between different ways of extrapolating waveform models. We also find that some of the NR simulations that already exist in such region of parameter space are too short to constrain the low-frequency portion of the models. Finally, we build a reduced-order version of the EOBNR model to speed up waveform generation by orders of magnitude, thus enabling intensive data-analysis applications during the upcoming observation runs of Advanced LIGO.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
8 More
  • Received 14 November 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.95.044028

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

Authors & Affiliations

Alejandro Bohé1,*, Lijing Shao1,†, Andrea Taracchini1,‡, Alessandra Buonanno1,2, Stanislav Babak1, Ian W. Harry1, Ian Hinder1, Serguei Ossokine1, Michael Pürrer1, Vivien Raymond1, Tony Chu3,4, Heather Fong4,5, Prayush Kumar4, Harald P. Pfeiffer4,1,6, Michael Boyle7, Daniel A. Hemberger8, Lawrence E. Kidder7, Geoffrey Lovelace10, Mark A. Scheel8, and Béla Szilágyi8,9

  • 1Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute), Am Mühlenberg 1, Potsdam 14476, Germany
  • 2Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
  • 3Department of Physics, Princeton University, Jadwin Hall, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA
  • 4Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 3H8, Canada
  • 5Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 3H8, Canada
  • 6Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto M5G 1Z8, Canada
  • 7Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853, USA
  • 8Theoretical Astrophysics 350-17, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
  • 9Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California 91109, USA
  • 10Gravitational Wave Physics and Astronomy Center, California State University Fullerton, Fullerton, California 92834, USA

  • *alejandro.bohe@aei.mpg.de
  • lijing.shao@aei.mpg.de
  • andrea.taracchini@aei.mpg.de

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 95, Iss. 4 — 15 February 2017

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
CHORUS

Article Available via CHORUS

Download Accepted Manuscript
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review D

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×