Search Talks

In this talk we present the motivation behind our implementation of and results from a coherent search for spinning compact binary coalescences. Our method uses the Physical template family of waveforms which describe binaries where only one of the objects has spin. In addition we discuss the possibility of extending thissearch to incorporate template waveforms for precessing black hole mergers derived from numerical relativity.

We present simulations of non-spinning unequal mass black-hole binaries with mass ratio q=1/4 covering approximately 11 orbits prior to coalescence and merger obtained with the moving puncture technique. Accuracy of the simulations and matching to post-Newtonian waveforms is discussed.

In this talk I will show recent results obtained by the RIT group fromsimulations of highly-spinning binaries including new data that givesnear maximal spins and high-mass ratio binaries. Simulations in bothof these regimes are numerically challenging. However asastrophysical binaries are expected to be highly-spinning and havehigh mass ratios accurate simulations in these regimes are crucialfor understanding the dynamics of realistic binaries.

The initial gold rush of exploration into new regions of parameter space has slowed significantly. While our ability to simulate larger spins and more extreme mass ratios has continued to improve, much of the recent progress in numerical relativity has centered on improvements in methodology, in condensing and interpreting an ever-growing body of numerical results, and in incorporating matter into the numerical simulations. In this review, I will summarize the recent progress in this field, focusing on novel results in the simulation of black hole binaries, with some discussion of novel applications of those results to data analysis.

Recent progress in numerical- and analytical relativity enables us to construct analytical waveform templates coherently describing the inspiral, merger and ring down of coalescing black-hole binaries. Such waveform templates not only improve the sensitivity of the searches for gravitational waves from high-mass binaries significantly, but also the accuracy of the parameter estimation. This talk summarizes the status and prospects of different approaches of the modeling of gravitational waveform from binary black holes calibrated to numerical- relativity simulations.