# The SXS Collaboration catalog of binary black hole simulations

## TL;DR

This paper updates the SXS catalog with over 2000 numerical simulations of merging black holes, improving accuracy and coverage to aid gravitational wave detection and analysis.

## Contribution

It provides a significantly expanded and more accurate catalog of black hole merger simulations, including new corrections and detailed error analysis.

## Key findings

- Catalog contains 2018 configurations, 11 times larger than previous.
- Median waveform length is 39 cycles, with improved numerical accuracy.
- Remnant mass and spin uncertainties are an order of magnitude better than models.

## Abstract

Accurate models of gravitational waves from merging black holes are necessary for detectors to observe as many events as possible while extracting the maximum science. Near the time of merger, the gravitational waves from merging black holes can be computed only using numerical relativity. In this paper, we present a major update of the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) Collaboration catalog of numerical simulations for merging black holes. The catalog contains 2018 distinct configurations (a factor of 11 increase compared to the 2013 SXS catalog), including 1426 spin-precessing configurations, with mass ratios between 1 and 10, and spin magnitudes up to 0.998. The median length of a waveform in the catalog is 39 cycles of the dominant $\ell=m=2$ gravitational-wave mode, with the shortest waveform containing 7.0 cycles and the longest 351.3 cycles. We discuss improvements such as correcting for moving centers of mass and extended coverage of the parameter space. We also present a thorough analysis of numerical errors, finding typical truncation errors corresponding to a waveform mismatch of $\sim 10^{-4}$. The simulations provide remnant masses and spins with uncertainties of 0.03% and 0.1% ($90^{\text{th}}$ percentile), about an order of magnitude better than analytical models for remnant properties. The full catalog is publicly available at https://www.black-holes.org/waveforms .