Simulations of black-hole binaries with unequal masses or nonprecessing spins: Accuracy, physical properties, and comparison with post-Newtonian results

Journal Article · Wed Dec 15 04:00:00 EST 2010 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.82.124008· OSTI ID:21503741

Hannam, Mark ^[1]; Husa, Sascha ^[2]; Ohme, Frank ^[3]; Mueller, Doreen; Bruegmann, Bernd ^[4]

---

1. Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Boltzmanngasse 5, A-1090 Vienna (Austria)
2. Departament de Fisica, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Cra. Valldemossa Km. 7.5, Palma de Mallorca, E-07122 Spain (Spain)
3. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Gravitationsphysik, Am Muehlenberg 1, 14475 Potsdam (Germany)
4. Theoretical Physics Institute, University of Jena, 07743 Jena (Germany)

We present gravitational waveforms for the last orbits and merger of black-hole-binary systems along two branches of the black-hole-binary parameter space: equal-mass binaries with equal nonprecessing spins, and nonspinning unequal-mass binaries. The waveforms are calculated from numerical solutions of Einstein's equations for black-hole binaries that complete between six and ten orbits before merger. Along the equal-mass spinning branch, the spin parameter of each black hole is {chi}{sub i}=S{sub i}/M{sub i}{sup 2}(set-membership sign)[-0.85,0.85], and along the unequal-mass branch the mass ratio is q=M{sub 2}/M{sub 1}(set-membership sign)[1,4]. We discuss the construction of low-eccentricity puncture initial data for these cases, the properties of the final merged black hole, and compare the last 8-10 gravitational-wave cycles up to M{omega}=0.1 with the phase and amplitude predicted by standard post-Newtonian (PN) approximants. As in previous studies, we find that the phase from the 3.5PN TaylorT4 approximant is most accurate for nonspinning binaries. For equal-mass spinning binaries the 3.5PN TaylorT1 approximant (including spin terms up to only 2.5PN order) gives the most robust performance, but it is possible to treat TaylorT4 in such a way that it gives the best accuracy for spins {chi}{sub i}>-0.75. When high-order amplitude corrections are included, the PN amplitude of the (l=2, m={+-}2) modes is larger than the numerical relativity amplitude by between 2-4%.

• OSTI ID: 21503741
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 82; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ACCURACY
AMPLITUDES
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
BLACK HOLES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CORRECTIONS
EINSTEIN FIELD EQUATIONS
EQUATIONS
EVALUATION
FIELD EQUATIONS
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
MASS
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
ORBITS
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
PERFORMANCE
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SIMULATION
SPACE
SPIN
WAVE FORMS