Searching for Gravitational Waves from the Inspiral of Precessing Binary Systems: Problems with Current Waveforms

Gravitational wave searches to date have largely focused on non-precessing systems. Including precession effects greatly increases the number of templates to be searched over. This leads to a corresponding increase in the computational cost and can increase the false alarm rate of a realistic search. On the other hand, there might be astrophysical systems that are entirely missed by non-precessing searches. In this paper we consider the problem of constructing a template bank...

There has been remarkable progress in numerical relativity recently. This has led to the generation of gravitational waveform signals covering what has been traditionally termed the three phases of the coalescence of a compact binary - the inspiral, merger and ringdown. In this paper, we examine the usefulness of inspiral only templates for both detection and parameter estimation of the full coalescence waveforms generated by numerical relativity simulations. To this end, we ...

In coming years, gravitational wave detectors should find black hole-neutron star binaries, potentially coincident with astronomical phenomena like short GRBs. These binaries are expected to precess. Gravitational wave science requires a tractable model for precessing binaries, to disentangle precession physics from other phenomena like modified strong field gravity, tidal deformability, or Hubble flow; and to measure compact object masses, spins, and alignments. Moreover, cu...

As gravitational-wave detectors become more sensitive, we will access a greater variety of signals emitted by compact binary systems, shedding light on their astrophysical origin and environment. A key physical effect that can distinguish among formation scenarios is the misalignment of the spins with the orbital angular momentum, causing the spins and the binary's orbital plane to precess. To accurately model such systems, it is crucial to include multipoles beyond the domin...

Given the absence of observations of black hole binaries, it is critical that the full range of accessible parameter space be explored in anticipation of future observation with gravitational wave detectors. To this end, we compile the Hamiltonian equations of motion describing the conservative dynamics of the most general black hole binaries, as computed by Will and collaborators, and incorporate an effective treatment of dissipation through gravitational radiation. We evolv...

The properties of compact binaries, such as masses and spins, are imprinted in the gravitational-waves they emit and can be measured using parameterised waveform models. Accurately and efficiently describing the complicated precessional dynamics of the various angular momenta of the system in these waveform models is the object of active investigation. One of the key models extensively used in the analysis of LIGO and Virgo data is the single-precessing-spin waveform model IM...

Previous analytic and numerical calculations suggest that, at each instant, the emission from a precessing black hole binary closely resembles the emission from a nonprecessing analog. In this paper we quantitatively explore the validity and limitations of that correspondence, extracting the radiation from a large collection of roughly two hundred generic black hole binary merger simulations both in the simulation frame and in a corotating frame that tracks precession. To a f...

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 ...

Observations of gravitational waves from massive binary black hole systems at cosmological distances can be used to search for a dependence of the speed of propagation of the waves on wavelength, and thereby to bound the mass of a hypothetical graviton. We study the effects of precessions of the spins of the black holes and of the orbital angular momentum on the process of parameter estimation using matched filtering of gravitational-wave signals vs. theoretical template wave...

Gravitational-wave observations of merging compact binaries hold the key to precision measurements of the objects' masses and spins. General-relativistic precession, caused by spins misaligned with the orbital angular momentum, is considered a crucial tracer for determining the binary's formation history and environment, and it also improves mass estimates -- its measurement is therefore of particular interest with wide-ranging implications. Precession leaves a characteristic...