Numerical relativity higher order gravitational waveforms of eccentric, spinning, non-precessing binary black hole mergers

TL;DR

This paper uses numerical relativity simulations to study eccentric, spinning binary black hole mergers, demonstrating that including higher order gravitational wave modes significantly improves signal detection and parameter estimation.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of higher order modes in eccentric, spinning, non-precessing binary black hole mergers using the Einstein Toolkit, highlighting their importance for gravitational wave detection.

Findings

Including modes up to 4 increases SNR by 3.5% to 35%.

Higher order modes improve recovery of eccentric black hole mergers.

Waveform models must incorporate higher modes for accurate detection.

Abstract

We use the open source, community-driven, numerical relativity software, the Einstein Toolkit to study the physics of eccentric, spinning, nonprecessing binary black hole mergers with mass-ratios $q=\{2, 4, 6\}$, individual dimensionless spin parameters $\chi_{1z}=\pm0.6$, $\chi_{2z}=\pm0.3$, that include higher order gravitational wave modes $\ell\leq4$, except for memory modes. Assuming stellar mass binary black hole mergers that may be detectable by the advanced LIGO detectors, we find that including modes up to $\ell=4$ increases the signal-to-noise of compact binaries between $3.5\%$ to $35\%$, compared to signals that only include the $\ell=|m|=2$ mode. We use two waveform models, TEOBResumS and SEOBNRE, which incorporate spin and eccentricity corrections in the waveform dynamics, to quantify the orbital eccentricity of our numerical relativity catalog in a gauge-invariant manner through fitting factor calculations. Our findings indicate that the inclusion of higher order wave modes has a measurable effect in the recovery of moderately and highly eccentric black hole mergers, and thus it is essential to develop waveform models and signal processing tools that accurately describe the physics of these astrophysical sources.