1,837 research outputs found
Final spin of a coalescing black-hole binary: an Effective-One-Body approach
We update the analytical estimate of the final spin of a coalescing
black-hole binary derived within the Effective-One-Body (EOB) approach. We
consider unequal-mass non-spinning black-hole binaries. It is found that a more
complete account of relevant physical effects (higher post-Newtonian accuracy,
ringdown losses) allows the {\it analytical} EOB estimate to `converge towards'
the recently obtained {\it numerical} results within 2%. This agreement
illustrates the ability of the EOB approach to capture the essential physics of
coalescing black-hole binaries. Our analytical approach allows one to estimate
the final spin of the black hole formed by coalescing binaries in a mass range
() which is not presently covered by numerical
simulations.Comment: 8 pages, two figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Comparing Effective-One-Body gravitational waveforms to accurate numerical data
We continue the program of constructing, within the Effective-One-Body (EOB)
approach, high accuracy, faithful analytic waveforms describing the
gravitational wave signal emitted by inspiralling and coalescing binary black
holes (BHs). We present the comparable-mass version of a new, resummed
3PN-accurate EOB quadrupolar waveform recently introduced in the
small-mass-ratio limit. We compare the phase and the amplitude of this waveform
to the recently published results of a high-accuracy numerical relativity (NR)
simulation of 15 orbits of an inspiralling equal-mass binary BHs system
performed by the Caltech-Cornell group. We find a remarkable agreement, both in
phase and in amplitude, between the new EOB waveform and the published
numerical data. More precisely: (i) in the gravitational wave (GW) frequency
domain where the phase of one of the non-resummed ``Taylor
approximant'' (T4) waveform matches well with the numerical relativity one, we
find that the EOB phase fares as well, while (ii) for higher GW frequencies,
, where the TaylorT4 approximant starts to
significantly diverge from the NR phase, we show that the EOB phase continues
to match well the NR one. We further propose various methods of tuning the two
inspiral flexibility parameters, and , of the EOB waveform
so as to ``best fit'' EOB predictions to numerical data. We find that the
maximal dephasing between EOB and NR can then be reduced below GW
cycles over the entire span (30 GW cycles) of the simulation. Our resummed EOB
amplitude agrees much better with the NR one than any of the previously
considered non-resummed, post-Newtonian one.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D. Revised version.
Figs. 2-7 improved. Slight changes in a few numbers. One reference adde
Binary black hole coalescence in the large-mass-ratio limit: the hyperboloidal layer method and waveforms at null infinity
We compute and analyze the gravitational waveform emitted to future null
infinity by a system of two black holes in the large mass ratio limit. We
consider the transition from the quasi-adiabatic inspiral to plunge, merger,
and ringdown. The relative dynamics is driven by a leading order in the mass
ratio, 5PN-resummed, effective-one-body (EOB), analytic radiation reaction. To
compute the waveforms we solve the Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli equations in the
time-domain on a spacelike foliation which coincides with the standard
Schwarzschild foliation in the region including the motion of the small black
hole, and is globally hyperboloidal, allowing us to include future null
infinity in the computational domain by compactification. This method is called
the hyperboloidal layer method, and is discussed here for the first time in a
study of the gravitational radiation emitted by black hole binaries. We
consider binaries characterized by five mass ratios, ,
that are primary targets of space-based or third-generation gravitational wave
detectors. We show significative phase differences between finite-radius and
null-infinity waveforms. We test, in our context, the reliability of the
extrapolation procedure routinely applied to numerical relativity waveforms. We
present an updated calculation of the gravitational recoil imparted to the
merger remnant by the gravitational wave emission. As a self consistency test
of the method, we show an excellent fractional agreement (even during the
plunge) between the 5PN EOB-resummed mechanical angular momentum loss and the
gravitational wave angular momentum flux computed at null infinity. New results
concerning the radiation emitted from unstable circular orbits are also
presented.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures. Typos corrected. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Inactivation of Mandelate Racemase by 3-Hydroxypyruvate Reveals a Potential Mechanistic Link between Enzyme Superfamilies
Mandelate racemase (MR), a member of the enolase superfamily, catalyzes the Mg2+-dependent interconversion of the enantiomers of mandelate. Several α-keto acids are modest competitive inhibitors of MR [e.g., mesoxalate (Ki = 1.8 ± 0.3 mM) and 3-fluoropyruvate (Ki = 1.3 ± 0.1 mM)], but, surprisingly, 3-hydroxypyruvate (3-HP) is an irreversible, time-dependent inhibitor (kinact/KI = 83 ± 8 M–1 s–1). Protection from inactivation by the competitive inhibitor benzohydroxamate, trypsinolysis and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry analyses, and X-ray crystallographic studies reveal that 3-HP undergoes Schiff-base formation with Lys 166 at the active site, followed by formation of an aldehyde/enol(ate) adduct. Such a reaction is unprecedented in the enolase superfamily and may be a relic of an activity possessed by a promiscuous progenitor enzyme. The ability of MR to form and deprotonate a Schiff-base intermediate furnishes a previously unrecognized mechanistic link to other α/β-barrel enzymes utilizing Schiff-base chemistry and is in accord with the sequence- and structure-based hypothesis that members of the metal-dependent enolase superfamily and the Schiff-base-forming N-acetylneuraminate lyase superfamily and aldolases share a common ancestor
Accurate numerical simulations of inspiralling binary neutron stars and their comparison with effective-one-body analytical models
Binary neutron-star systems represent one of the most promising sources of
gravitational waves. In order to be able to extract important information,
notably about the equation of state of matter at nuclear density, it is
necessary to have in hands an accurate analytical model of the expected
waveforms. Following our recent work, we here analyze more in detail two
general-relativistic simulations spanning about 20 gravitational-wave cycles of
the inspiral of equal-mass binary neutron stars with different compactnesses,
and compare them with a tidal extension of the effective-one-body (EOB)
analytical model. The latter tidally extended EOB model is analytically
complete up to the 1.5 post-Newtonian level, and contains an analytically
undetermined parameter representing a higher-order amplification of tidal
effects. We find that, by calibrating this single parameter, the EOB model can
reproduce, within the numerical error, the two numerical waveforms essentially
up to the merger. By contrast, analytical models (either EOB, or Taylor-T4)
that do not incorporate such a higher-order amplification of tidal effects,
build a dephasing with respect to the numerical waveforms of several radians.Comment: 25 pages, 17 figs. Matched published versio
Binary black hole merger in the extreme-mass-ratio limit: a multipolar analysis
Building up on previous work, we present a new calculation of the
gravitational wave (GW) emission generated during the transition from
quasi-circular inspiral to plunge, merger and ringdown by a binary system of
nonspinning black holes, of masses and , in the extreme mass ratio
limit, . The relative dynamics of the system is computed
{\it without making any adiabatic approximation} by using an effective one body
(EOB) description, namely by representing the binary by an effective particle
of mass moving in a (quasi-)Schwarzschild background of
mass and submitted to an \O(\nu) 5PN-resummed analytical
radiation reaction force, with . The gravitational wave emission is
calculated via a multipolar Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli type perturbative approach
(valid in the limit ). We consider three mass ratios,
,and we compute the multipolar waveform up to
. We estimate energy and angular momentum losses during the
quasi-universal and quasi-geodesic part of the plunge phase and we analyze the
structure of the ringdown. We calculate the gravitational recoil, or "kick",
imparted to the merger remnant by the gravitational wave emission and we
emphasize the importance of higher multipoles to get a final value of the
recoil . We finally show that there is an {\it excellent
fractional agreement} () (even during the plunge) between the 5PN
EOB analytically-resummed radiation reaction flux and the numerically computed
gravitational wave angular momentum flux. This is a further confirmation of the
aptitude of the EOB formalism to accurately model extreme-mass-ratio inspirals,
as needed for the future space-based LISA gravitational wave detector.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures. Version published in Phys. Rev.
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