Title: Gravitational-wave signals from precessing binary black holes: modelling & measurement
Speaker: Patricia Schmidt (Radboud University Nijmegen).
Abstract: The LIGO Scientific and Virgo Collaborations have recently reported the first detections of gravitational waves (GW) from merging binary black holes. Detection and subsequent estimation of the GW source parameters depend crucially on theoretical knowledge of the gravitational waveforms. The availability of accurate and complete descriptions of the GW signal across the binary parameter space is key. Much progress has been made in recent years to model the complete inspiral-merger-ringdown signal from precessing black hole binaries, which was crucial for estimating the properties of the black holes detected by LIGO. In this talk, I will present a conceptually intuitive framework that allows us to systematically model precessing waveforms by simply „twisting up“ aligned-spin waveforms, and then explore the possibility of representing the seven-dimensional parameter space by a lower-dimensional subset. I will illustrate the advantages and caveats of this approach. I will then highlight recent developments in assessing the accuracy of semi-analytical waveform models against full Numerical Relativity simulations, and present results of the impact of potential systematic modelling errors on GW150914.
This talk will be presented in the Neutron Stars in Lisbon conference.