Improved effective-one-body model of spinning, nonprecessing binary black holes for the era of gravitational-wave astrophysics with advanced detectors

We improve the accuracy of the effective-one-body (EOB) waveforms that were employed during the first observing run of Advanced LIGO for binaries of spinning, nonprecessing black holes by calibrating them to a set of 141 numerical-relativity (NR) waveforms. The NR simulations expand the domain of calibration toward larger mass ratios and spins, as compared to the previous EOBNR model. Merger-ringdown waveforms computed in black-hole perturbation theory for Kerr spins close to extremal provide additional inputs to the calibration. For the inspiral-plunge phase, we use a Markov-chain Monte Carlo algorithm to efficiently explore the calibration space. For the merger-ringdown phase, we fit the NR signals with…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: PHY-1606654, PHY-1404569, AST-1333129, 1333129, PHY-1606522, PHY-1307489, 1404569, 1307489, 1606654
• RC
  Research Corporation for Science Advancement

  Award: PHY-1429873
• CI
  California Institute of Technology

  Award: PHY-1404569
• CS
  California State University
• SF
  Sherman Fairchild Foundation

  Awards: PHY-1606654, AST-1333129, PHY-1404569
• CF
  Canada Foundation for Innovation
• UO
  University of Toronto
• CS
  California State University, Fullerton
• NS
  Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
• SA
  Science and Technology Facilities Council

  Award: ST/N005430/1
• FD
  Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies