Detection of Gravitational Waves from Eccentric Compact Binaries

TL;DR

This paper investigates how eccentric orbital signals from coalescing compact binaries affect gravitational wave detection, focusing on the loss of signal-to-noise ratio when using circular templates for filtering.

Contribution

It analyzes the impact of eccentricity on matched filtering efficiency, highlighting the need for eccentric waveform templates in gravitational wave searches.

Findings

Eccentric signals cause a significant loss in detection efficiency.

Circular templates are less effective for eccentric binary signals.

The study emphasizes the importance of developing eccentric waveform models.

Abstract

Coalescing compact binaries have been pointed out as the most promising source of gravitational waves for kilometer-size interferometers such as LIGO. Gravitational wave signals are extracted from the noise in the detectors by matched filtering. This technique performs really well if an a priori theoretical knowledge of the signal is available. The information known about the possible sources is used to construct a model of the expected waveforms (templates). A common assumption made when constructing templates for coalescing compact binaries is that the companions move in a quasi-circular orbit. Some scenarios, however, predict the existence of eccentric binaries. We investigate the loss in signal-to-noise ratio induced by non-optimal filtering of eccentric signals.