Time-domain inspiral templates for spinning compact binaries in quasi-circular orbits

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to compute time-domain gravitational wave signals from spinning compact binaries in quasi-circular orbits, using orbital angular momentum and initial spin configurations.

Contribution

It provides a new prescription for modeling GW polarization states that accounts for spin effects and orbital angular momentum in a more accurate way.

Findings

The approach clarifies the role of orbital angular momentum in GW modeling.

It allows for freely specified initial spin vectors in the source frame.

Implications for GW data analysis and waveform modeling are discussed.

Abstract

We present a prescription to compute the time-domain gravitational wave (GW) polarization states associated with spinning compact binaries inspiraling along quasi-circular orbits. We invoke the orbital angular momentum ${\bf L}$ rather than its Newtonian counterpart ${\bf L_{\rm N}}$ to describe the orbits and the two spin vectors are freely specified in the source frame associated with the initial direction of the total angular momentum. We discuss the various implications of our approach.