Waveform Modelling for Gravitational Wave Astrophysics

当黑洞双星激发和碰撞时，由一般配置的黑洞双星发出的引力波信号的准确模型，对于测量在高级LIGO的第一次引力波探测中观察到的黑洞的性质至关重要。最紧迫的问题之一是对一般双星的建模，在这种情况下，黑洞自转引入了产生复杂波形的狂野动力学。我们目前有一个初步的波形模型，但这没有考虑到黑洞接近合并时的细微进动效应，或者它们在最终黑洞倒下时对波形的影响。同样重要的是，对于引力波搜索和物理参数测量，确定那些对波形结构具有主要影响的物理参数，因此是可以最精确地测量的参数。这对我们如何构建波形模型，以及可以用引力波观测来回答的天体物理问题都有影响。有几个可能的研究方向，包括对一般系统的晚激发波进行建模，使用这些模型来估计可以从GW观测中测量的物理，以及从双星黑洞观测中研究天体物理学。

Accurate models of the gravitational-wave signal emitted by generic configurations of black-hole binaries as they inspiral and collide, have been essential to measure the properties of the black holes observed in the first gravitational-wave detections from Advanced LIGO. One of the most pressing problems is the modelling of generic binaries, where the black-hole spins introduce wild dynamics that generate complicated waveforms. We currently have a preliminary waveform model, but this does not take into account the subtle precession effects at the black holes approach merger, or their effect on the waveform as the final black hole rings down. It is also important, for both gravitational-wave searches and measurements of physical parameters, to determine those physical parameters that have the dominant effects on the waveform structure, and are therefore the parameters that can be most precisely measured. This has an impact both on how we construct waveform models, and on the astrophysical questions that can be answered with gravitational-wave observations. Several research directions are possible, including modelling the late-inspiral waveforms of generic systems, using these models to estimate the physics that can be measured from GW observations, and studying astrophysics from binary-black-hole observations.