A Comparison of search templates for gravitational waves from binary inspiral

TL;DR

This paper compares different gravitational wave search templates, demonstrating that effective-one-body templates significantly improve detection for high-mass binaries by including the plunge phase, and confirms the value of resummation methods.

Contribution

It introduces and evaluates effective-one-body templates that incorporate the plunge phase, showing their superiority over traditional post-Newtonian templates for certain binary masses.

Findings

Effective-one-body templates enhance signal-to-noise ratio for >30 M_sun binaries.

Resummation methods are validated as useful for template construction.

Including the plunge phase improves detection prospects for high-mass systems.

Abstract

We compare the performances of the templates defined by three different types of approaches: traditional post-Newtonian templates (Taylor-approximants), ``resummed'' post-Newtonian templates assuming the adiabatic approximation and stopping before the plunge (P-approximants), and further ``resummed'' post-Newtonian templates going beyond the adiabatic approximation and incorporating the plunge with its transition from the inspiral (Effective-one-body approximants). The signal to noise ratio is significantly enhanced (mainly because of the inclusion of the plunge signal) by using these new effective-one-body templates relative to the usual post-Newtonian ones for binary masses greater than $ 30 M_\odot$, the most likely sources for initial laser interferometers. Independently of the question of the plunge signal, the comparison of the various templates confirms the usefulness of using resummation methods. The paper also summarizes the key elements of the construction of various templates and thus can serve as a resource for those involved in writing inspiral search software.