Hierarchical data-driven approach to fitting numerical relativity data for nonprecessing binary black holes with an application to final spin and radiated energy

Xisco Jiménez-Forteza, David Keitel, Sascha Husa, Mark Hannam, Sebastian Khan, and Michael Pürrer
Phys. Rev. D 95, 064024 – Published 15 March 2017
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Abstract

Numerical relativity is an essential tool in studying the coalescence of binary black holes (BBHs). It is still computationally prohibitive to cover the BBH parameter space exhaustively, making phenomenological fitting formulas for BBH waveforms and final-state properties important for practical applications. We describe a general hierarchical bottom-up fitting methodology to design and calibrate fits to numerical relativity simulations for the three-dimensional parameter space of quasicircular nonprecessing merging BBHs, spanned by mass ratio and by the individual spin components orthogonal to the orbital plane. Particular attention is paid to incorporating the extreme-mass-ratio limit and to the subdominant unequal-spin effects. As an illustration of the method, we provide two applications, to the final spin and final mass (or equivalently: radiated energy) of the remnant black hole. Fitting to 427 numerical relativity simulations, we obtain results broadly consistent with previously published fits, but improving in overall accuracy and particularly in the approach to extremal limits and for unequal-spin configurations. We also discuss the importance of data quality studies when combining simulations from diverse sources, how detailed error budgets will be necessary for further improvements of these already highly accurate fits, and how this first detailed study of unequal-spin effects helps in choosing the most informative parameters for future numerical relativity runs.

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  • Received 2 November 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.95.064024

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

Authors & Affiliations

Xisco Jiménez-Forteza1,*, David Keitel1,4,†, Sascha Husa1,‡, Mark Hannam2, Sebastian Khan2, and Michael Pürrer2,3

  • 1Universitat de les Illes Balears, IAC3—IEEC, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
  • 2School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA, United Kingdom
  • 3Albert-Einstein-Institut, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
  • 4School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, United Kingdom

  • *francisco.forteza@ligo.org
  • david.keitel@ligo.org
  • sascha.husa@ligo.org

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Issue

Vol. 95, Iss. 6 — 15 March 2017

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