Effective-one-body waveforms for extreme-mass-ratio binaries: Consistency with second-order gravitational self-force quasicircular results and extension to nonprecessing spins and eccentricity

TL;DR

This paper develops an advanced effective-one-body model for extreme-mass-ratio inspirals, incorporating spins and eccentricity, and demonstrates its high accuracy and consistency with gravitational self-force results over long evolution periods.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive EOB model for EMRIs that includes aligned spins, eccentricity, and higher-order flux modes, improving agreement with second-order gravitational self-force waveforms.

Findings

EOB/2GSF dephasing is less than 1 rad over 1 year for typical EMRIs.

Inclusion of higher modes significantly improves waveform accuracy.

The model accurately reproduces key features of EMRI waveforms with high fidelity.

Abstract

We present a first complete implementation of an effective-one-body (EOB) model for extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) that incorporates aligned spins (on both the primary and the secondary) as well as orbital eccentricity. The model extends TEOBResumS-Dal\'i for these binaries by (i) recasting conservative first-order gravitational self-force (1GSF) information in the resummed EOB potentials; (ii) employing a post-Newtonian (PN) $3^{+19}$PN-accurate (3PN comparable-mass terms hybridized with test-particle terms up to 22PN relative order) expression for the gravitational-wave flux at infinity; (iii) using an improved implementation of the horizon flux that better approximates its test-mass representation. With respect to our previous work [Phys. Rev. D 106 (2022) 8, 084062], we demonstrate that the inclusion of the $3^{+19}$PN-accurate $\ell=9$ and $\ell=10$ modes in the flux at infinity significantly improves the model's agreement with second-order accurate GSF (2GSF) circular waveforms. For a standard EMRI with mass ratio $q \equiv m_1/m_2 = 5 \times 10^4$ and $m_2 = 10 M_\odot$, the accumulated EOB/2GSF dephasing is $\lesssim $ rad for $\sim 1$ yr of evolution, which is consistent with the standard accuracy requirements for EMRIs. We also showcase the generation of eccentric and spinning waveforms and discuss future extensions of our EOB towards a physically complete model for EMRIs.