“Complete” gravitational waveforms for black-hole binaries with non-precessing spins
by Ajith, P. and Hannam, M. and Husa, S. and Chen, Y. and Bruegmann, B. and Dorband, N. and Mueller, D. and Ohme, F. and Pollney, D. and Reisswig, C. and Santamaria, L. and Seiler, J.
4 pages, 5 figures
We present the first analytical inspiral-merger-ringdown gravitational waveforms from black-hole (BH) binaries with non-precessing spins. By matching a post-Newtonian description of the inspiral to a set of numerical calculations performed in full general relativity, we obtain a waveform family with a conveniently small number of physical parameters. The physical content of these waveforms includes the “orbital hang-up” effect, when BHs are spinning rapidly along the direction of the orbital angular momentum. These waveforms will allow us to detect a larger parameter space of BH binary coalescence, to explore various scientific questions related to GW astronomy, and could dramatically improve the expected detection rates of GW detectors.