Assessing the Readiness of Numerical Relativity for LISA and 3G Detectors

TL;DR

This paper develops a new criterion to determine if numerical relativity simulations are sufficiently accurate for upcoming gravitational wave detectors like LISA and 3G, ensuring waveform fidelity for complex signals.

Contribution

It introduces a novel resolution criterion for numerical relativity codes, enabling assessment of their readiness for next-generation gravitational wave observations.

Findings

Derived a minimum resolution criterion based on signal-to-noise ratio

Applied the criterion to the MAYA code for specific binary systems

Provided the first estimate of simulation resolution needed for future detectors

Abstract

Future detectors such as LISA promise signal-to-noise ratios potentially in the thousands and data containing simultaneous signals. Accurate numerical relativity waveforms will be essential to maximize the science return. A question of interest to the broad gravitational wave community is: Are the numerical relativity codes ready to face this challenge? Towards answering this question, we provide a new criteria to identify the minimum resolution a simulation must have as a function of signal-to-noise ratio in order for the numerical relativity waveform to be indistinguishable from a true signal. This criteria can be applied to any finite-differencing numerical relativity code with multiple simulations of differing resolutions for the desired binary parameters and waveform length. We apply this criteria to binary systems of interest with the fourth-order MAYA code to obtain the first estimate of the minimum resolution a simulation must have to be prepared for next generation detectors.