Analytic gravitational waveforms for generic precessing compact binaries

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new analytic method to generate frequency-domain gravitational waveforms for fully precessing binary systems, significantly reducing computational complexity compared to previous numerical approaches.

Contribution

It presents the first closed-form, frequency-domain waveforms for generic precessing compact binaries, enabling faster data analysis in gravitational wave astronomy.

Findings

Provides a computationally efficient analytic waveform model.

Achieves accurate representation of precession effects in frequency domain.

Facilitates rapid data analysis for gravitational wave detection.

Abstract

Binary systems of two compact objects circularize and spiral toward each other via the emission of gravitational waves. The coupling of the spins of each object with the orbital angular momentum causes the orbital plane to precess, which leads to modulation of the gravitational wave signal. Until now, generating frequency-domain waveforms for fully precessing systems for use in gravitational wave data analysis meant numerically integrating the equations of motion, then Fourier transforming the result, which is very computationally intensive for systems that complete hundreds or thousands of cycles in the sensitive band of a detector. Previously, analytic solutions were only available for certain special cases or for simplified models. Here we describe the construction of closed-form, frequency-domain waveforms for fully-precessing, quasi-circular binary inspirals.