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arXiv · 2305.19336

Faithful effective-one-body waveform of small-mass-ratio coalescing black hole binaries: the eccentric, nonspinning, case

Simone Albanesi·Sebastiano Bernuzzi·Thibault Damour·Alessandro Nagar·Andrea Placidi
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Abstract

We present a new effective-one-body (EOB) waveform for eccentric, nonspinning, binaries in the extreme mass ratio limit, with initial eccentricities up to $0.95$. The EOB analytical waveform, that includes noncircular corrections up to second post-Newtonian order, is completed by a phenomenological ringdown model that is informed by Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli (RWZ) type waveforms generated by a point-particle source. This model notably includes the beating between positive and negative frequency quasi-normal-modes (QNMs). We analyze various prescriptions to faithfully complete the analytical EOB waveform in the transition from plunge to merger. In particular, we systematically explore the effect of: (i) the generic Newtonian prefactor; (ii) next-to-quasi-circular (NQC) corrections to amplitude and phase; (iii) the point were NQC corrections are determined; (iv) the ringdown attachment point. This yields EOB/RWZ quadrupolar phase differences through merger and ringdown $\lesssim 0.01$~rad for the quasi-circular case and $\lesssim 0.05$~rad for the eccentric case. Higher modes are also modeled up to the $\ell=m=5$ multipole. We finally discuss the excitation of the QNMs and present a heuristic model to motivate it in correlation with the presence of a point-particle source.

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Simone Albanesi, Sebastiano Bernuzzi, Thibault Damour, Alessandro Nagar, Andrea Placidi. 2023-05-30. Faithful effective-one-body waveform of small-mass-ratio coalescing black hole binaries: the eccentric, nonspinning, case. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.108.084037

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