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arXiv · 2307.06999

Strong-field scattering of two spinning black holes: Numerical Relativity versus post-Minkowskian gravity

Piero Rettegno·Geraint Pratten·Lucy Thomas·Patricia Schmidt·Thibault Damour
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Abstract

Highly accurate models of the gravitational-wave signal from coalescing compact binaries are built by completing analytical computations of the binary dynamics with non-perturbative information from numerical relativity (NR) simulations. In this paper we present four sets of NR simulations of equal-mass black hole binaries that undergo strong-field scattering: (i) we reproduce and extend the nonspinning simulations first presented in [Damour \textit{et al.}, Phys.Rev.D 89 (2014) 8, 081503], (ii) we compute two suites of nonspinning simulations at higher energies, probing stronger field interactions, (iii) we present a series of \textit{spinning} simulations including, for the first time, unequal-spin configurations. When comparing the NR scattering angles to analytical predictions based on state-of-the-art post-Minkowskian (PM) calculations, we find that PM-expanded scattering angles show poor convergence towards NR data. By contrast, a resummed computation of scattering angles via a spin-dependent, radiation-reacted, effective-one-body potential shows excellent agreement for both nonspinning and spinning configurations.

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Piero Rettegno, Geraint Pratten, Lucy Thomas, Patricia Schmidt, Thibault Damour. 2023-07-13. Strong-field scattering of two spinning black holes: Numerical Relativity versus post-Minkowskian gravity. https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.06999

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