# Understanding the importance of transient resonances in extreme mass ratio inspirals

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how transient resonances in extreme mass ratio inspirals affect gravitational-wave detection, showing that neglecting these effects can lead to a 4% loss in detectable signals, especially for low-eccentricity orbits.

## Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of the impact of transient resonances on EMRI gravitational-wave detection and quantifies the potential signal loss.

## Key findings

- Neglecting transient resonances causes about 4% loss in detectable EMRI signals.
- Jumps in orbital parameters are smaller for low-eccentricity orbits.
- Most EMRIs with small eccentricities are less affected by resonances.

## Abstract

Extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs) occur when a compact object orbits a much larger one, like a solar-mass black hole around a supermassive black hole. The orbit has 3 frequencies which evolve through the inspiral. If the orbital radial frequency and polar frequency become commensurate, the system passes through a transient resonance. Evolving through resonance causes a jump in the evolution of the orbital parameters. We study these jumps and their impact on EMRI gravitational-wave detection. Jumps are smaller for lower eccentricity orbits; since most EMRIs have small eccentricities when passing through resonances, we expect that the impact on detection will be small. Neglecting the effects of transient resonances leads to a loss of ~4% of detectable signals for an astrophysically motivated population of EMRIs.