Gravitational waves from coalescing compact binaries

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of gravitational waves from coalescing compact binaries, focusing on detection techniques, waveform modeling, and the theoretical frameworks used to understand these signals.

Contribution

It offers a pedagogical synthesis of recent developments in gravitational wave modeling and detection strategies for compact binary coalescences.

Findings

Matched filtering enhances detection sensitivity.

Post-Newtonian theory accurately models waveforms.

Black-hole perturbation approach complements post-Newtonian methods.

Abstract

This article is intended to provide a pedagogical account of issues related to, and recent work on, gravitational waves from coalescing compact binaries (composed of neutron stars and/or black holes). These waves are the most promising for kilometer-size interferometric detectors such as LIGO and VIRGO. Topics discussed include: interferometric detectors and their noise; coalescing compact binaries and their gravitational waveforms; the technique of matched filtering for signal detection and measurement; waveform calculations in post-Newtonian theory and in the black-hole perturbation approach; and the accuracy of the post-Newtonian expansion.