Study of the intermediate mass ratio black hole binary merger up to 1000:1 with numerical relativity. (4th May 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lousto, Carlos O; Healy, James
• Is Part Of: Classical and quantum gravity. Volume 40:Number 9(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-05-04
• Subjects: gravitational waves -- binary black holes -- LISA -- numerical relativity -- 3G GW detectors; Quantum gravity -- Periodicals; Gravitation -- Periodicals; Relativity (Physics) -- Periodicals; Space and time -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 521.1
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6382/acc7ef
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0264-9381

Abstract

Abstract: We explicitly demonstrate that current numerical relativity techniques are able to accurately evolve black hole binaries with mass ratios of the order of 1000:1. This proof of principle is relevant for future third generation gravitational wave detectors and space mission LISA, as by purely numerical methods we would be able to accurately compute gravitational waves from the last stages of black hole mergers, as directly predicted by general relativity. We perform a sequence of simulations in the intermediate to small mass ratio regime, m 1 p / m 2 p = 1 / 7, 1 / 16, 1 / 32, 1 / 64, 1 / 128, 1 / 256, 1 / 512, 1 / 1024, with the small hole starting from rest at a proper distance D ≈ 13 M . We compare these headon full numerical evolutions with the corresponding semianalytic point particle perturbative results finding an impressive agreement for the total gravitational radiated energy and linear momentum as well as for the waveform spectra. We display numerical convergence of the results and identify the minimal numerical resolutions required to accurately solve for these very low amplitude gravitational waves. This work represents a first step towards the considerable challenge of applying numerical-relativity waveforms to interpreting gravitational-wave observations by LISA and next-generation ground-based gravitational-wave detectors.