24 research outputs found
Strong-field scattering of two black holes: Numerical Relativity meets Post-Minkowskian gravity
We compare numerical relativity (NR) data on the scattering of equal-mass,
non-spinning binary black holes to various analytical predictions, based on
post-Minkowskian (PM) results. While the usual sequence of PM-expanded
scattering angles shows a rather poor convergence towards NR data, we find that
a reformulation of PM information in terms of Effective-One-Body radial
potentials leads to remarkable agreement with NR data, especially when using
the radiation-reacted 4PM information. Using Firsov's inversion formula we
directly extract, for the first time, from NR simulations a (radiation-reacted)
gravitational potential describing the scattering of equal-mass, non-spinning
binary black holes. We urge the NR community to compute more sequences of
scattering simulations, so as to extend this knowledge to a wider region of
parameter space.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure
Spin-orbit contribution to radiative losses for spinning binaries with aligned spins
We compute the leading order contribution to radiative losses in the case of
spinning binaries with aligned spins due to their spin-orbit interaction. The
orbital average along hyperboliclike orbits is taken through an appropriate
spin-orbit modification to the quasi-Keplerian parametrization for nonspinning
bodies, which maintains the same functional form, but with spin-dependent
orbital elements. We perform consistency checks with existing PN-based and
PM-based results. In the former case, we compare our expressions for both
radiated energy and angular momentum with those obtained in [JHEP \textbf{04},
154 (2022)] by applying the boundary-to-bound correspondence to known results
for ellipticlike orbits, finding agreement. The linear momentum loss is instead
newly computed here. In the latter case, we also find agreement with the
low-velocity limit of recent calculations of the total radiated energy, angular
momentum and linear momentum in the framework of an extension of the worldline
quantum field theory approach to the classical scattering of spinning bodies at
the leading post-Minkowskian order [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{128}, no.1, 011101
(2022), Phys. Rev. D \textbf{106}, no.4, 044013 (2022)]. We get exact
expressions of the radiative losses in terms of the orbital elements, even if
they are at the leading post-Newtonian order, so that their expansion for large
values of the eccentricity parameter (or equivalently of the impact parameter)
provides higher-order terms in the corresponding post-Minkowskian expansion,
which can be useful for future crosschecks of other approaches.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, revtex macro
TEOBResumS: Analytic systematics in next-generation of effective-one-body gravitational waveform models for future observations
The success of analytic waveform modeling within the effective-one-body (EOB)
approach relies on the precise understanding of the physical importance of each
technical element included in the model. The urgency of constructing
progressively more sophisticated and complete waveform models (e.g. including
spin precession and eccentricity) partly defocused the research from a careful
comprehension of each building block (e.g. Hamiltonian, radiation reaction,
ringdown attachment). Here we go back to the spirit of the first EOB works. We
focus first on nonspinning, quasi-circular, black hole binaries and analyze
systematically the mutual synergy between numerical relativity (NR) informed
functions and the high post-Newtonian corrections (up to 5PN) to the EOB
potentials. Our main finding is that it is essential to correctly control the
noncircular part of the dynamics during the late plunge up to merger. When this
happens, either using NR-informed non-quasi-circular corrections to the
waveform (and flux) or high-PN corrections in the radial EOB potentials
, it is easy to obtain EOB/NR unfaithfulness with the
noise of either Advanced LIGO or 3G detectors. We then improve the {\tt
TEOBResumS-GIOTTO} waveform model for quasi-circular, spin-aligned binaries
black hole binaries. We obtain maximal EOB/NR unfaithfulness (with Advanced LIGO noise and in the
total mass range ) for the dominant mode all over the
534 spin-aligned configurations available through the Simulating eXtreme
Spacetime catalog. The model performance, also including higher modes, is then
explored using NR surrogate waveform models to validate {\tt TEOBResumS-GIOTTO}
up to mass ratio .Comment: 23 pages, 27 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
GW190521 as a dynamical capture of two nonspinning black holes
Gravitational waves from black holes binary systems have currently
been detected by the LIGO and Virgo experiments, and their progenitors'
properties inferred. This allowed the scientific community to draw conclusions
on the formation channels of black holes in binaries, informing population
models and -- at times -- defying our understanding of black hole astrophysics.
The most challenging event detected so far is the short duration
gravitational-wave transient GW190521. We analyze this signal under the
hypothesis that it was generated by the merger of two nonspinning black holes
on hyperbolic orbits. The best configuration matching the data corresponds to
two black holes of source frame masses of and
undergoing two encounters and then merging into an
intermediate-mass black hole. We find that the hyperbolic merger hypothesis is
favored with respect to a quasi-circular merger with precessing spins with
Bayes' factors larger than 4300 to 1, although this number will be reduced by
the currently uncertain prior odds. Our results suggest that GW190521 might be
the first gravitational-wave detection from the dynamical capture of two
stellar-mass nonspinning black holes.Comment: Version accepted for publicatio