2012/07/31 by P. Schmidt, Patricia Schmidt, Mark Hannam +3 · 4 citations
Engineering · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Algorithm #Binary number #Classical mechanics #Computer science #Frame (networking) #General relativity #Geometry #Geophysics and Sensor Technology #Gravitation #Gravitational wave #Magnetic confinement fusion research #Mathematics #Numerical relativity #Parameter space #Physics #Precession #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Quadrupole #Quantum mechanics #Reference frame #Waveform #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.86.104063
published as Phys.Rev. D86 (2012) 104063 · 16 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables; replaced to match published version; journal ref. added
openalex publication_date 2012/11/27 · arxiv created 2013/03/11 · arxiv updated 2013/03/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
One of the greatest theoretical challenges in the buildup to the era of second-generation gravitational-wave detectors is the modeling of generic binary waveforms. We introduce an approximation that has the potential to significantly simplify this problem. We show that generic precessing-binary inspiral waveforms (covering a seven-dimensional space of intrinsic parameters) can be mapped to a two-dimensional space of nonprecessing binaries, characterized by the mass ratio and a single effective total spin. The mapping consists of a time-dependent rotation of the waveforms into the quadrupole-aligned frame and is extremely accurate (matches >0.99 with parameter biases in the total spin of \ensuremathΔ\ensuremathχ\ensuremath≤0.04), even in the case of transitional precession. In addition, we demonstrate a simple method to construct hybrid post-Newtonian--numerical relativity precessing-binary waveforms in the quadrupole-aligned frame and provide evidence that our approximate mapping can be used all the way to the merger. Finally, based on these results, we outline a general proposal for the construction of generic waveform models, which will be the focus of future work.