Tracking the precession of compact binaries from their gravitational-wave signal
Dec, 2010
Citations per year
Abstract: (arXiv)
We present a simple method to track the precession of a black-hole-binary system, using only information from the gravitational-wave (GW) signal. Our method consists of locating the frame from which the magnitude of the modes is maximized, which we denote the 'quadrupole-aligned' frame. We demonstrate the efficacy of this method when applied to waveforms from numerical simulations. In the test case of an equal-mass nonspinning binary, our method locates the direction of the orbital angular momentum to within . We then apply the method to a binary that exhibits significant precession. In general a spinning binary's orbital angular momentum is \emph{not} orthogonal to the orbital plane. Evidence that our method locates the direction of rather than the normal of the orbital plane is provided by comparison with post-Newtonian (PN) results. Also, we observe that it accurately reproduces similar higher-mode amplitudes to a comparable non-spinning (and therefore non-precessing) binary, and that the frequency of the modes is consistent with the 'total frequency' of the binary's motion. The simple form of the quadrupole-aligned waveform will be useful in attempts to analytically model the inspiral-merger-ringdown (IMR) signal of precessing binaries, and in standardizing the representation of waveforms for studies of accuracy and consistency of source modelling efforts, both numerical and analytical.- 04.25.Nx
- 04.70.Bw
- 04.30.Db
- 04.25.dg
- black hole: binary
- spin: precession
- gravitational radiation
- angular momentum
- numerical calculations
- tracks
References(53)
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