Post-Minkowskian Theory Meets the Spinning Effective-One-Body Approach for Bound-Orbit Waveforms

Area of Science:

• Gravitational physics
• Astrophysical waveform modeling
• Black hole mergers

Background:

• Recent advances in scattering amplitudes and worldline methods have improved gravitational two-body scattering calculations.
• The post-Minkowskian (PM) formalism is crucial for weak-field, high-velocity gravitational dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a complete inspiral-merger-ringdown waveform model for nonprecessing spinning black holes.
• To leverage post-Minkowskian (PM) data within the effective-one-body (EOB) formalism.

Main Methods:

• Construction of the SEOBNR-PM model based on the SEOBNRv5 framework.
• Derivation of a new EOB Hamiltonian by matching the two-body scattering angle in a perturbative PM expansion.
• Validation against 441 numerical-relativity (NR) simulations.

Main Results:

• The SEOBNR-PM model demonstrates a lower median mismatch compared to a calibrated SEOBNRv5 model.
• Improved agreement in binding energy calculations with NR simulations compared to SEOBNRv5.
• Successful application of PM data to enhance EOB waveform modeling.

Conclusions:

• The SEOBNR-PM model represents a significant advancement in accurate waveform modeling for spinning black hole binaries.
• Incorporating PM scattering data provides a more precise description of gravitational dynamics, especially for strong fields.
• The model offers improved predictions for gravitational-wave signals from black hole mergers.