Compact binaries inspiralling along eccentric orbits are plausible gravitational-wave (GW) sources for the ground-based laser interferometers. We explore the losses in the event rates incurred when searching for GWs from compact binaries inspiralling along post-Newtonian accurate eccentric orbits with certain obvious nonoptimal search templates. For the present analysis, GW signals having 2.5 post-Newtonian (PN) accurate orbital evolution are modeled following the phasing formalism, presented by T. Damour, A. Gopakumar, and B. R. Iyer [Phys. Rev. D 70, 064028 (2004)]. We demonstrate that the search templates that model in a gauge-invariant manner GWs from compact binaries inspiralling under quadrupolar radiation reaction along 2PN accurate circular orbits are very efficient in capturing our somewhat realistic GW signals. However, three types of search templates based on the adiabatic, complete adiabatic, and gauge-dependent complete nonadiabatic approximants, detailed in P. Ajith, B. R. Iyer, C. A. K. Robinson, and B. S. Sathyaprakash, Phys. Rev. D 71, 044029 (2005), relevant for the circular inspiral under the quadrupolar radiation reaction were found to be inefficient in capturing the above-mentioned eccentric signal. We conclude that further investigations will be required to probe the ability of various types of PN accurate circular templates, employed to analyze the LIGO/VIRGO data, to capture GWs from compact binaries having tiny orbital eccentricities.

• Received 18 August 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.78.084029