Multi-timescale analysis of phase transitions in precessing black-hole binaries

Davide Gerosa, Michael Kesden, Ulrich Sperhake, Emanuele Berti, and Richard O’Shaughnessy

Phys. Rev. D 92, 064016 – Published 14 September 2015

Abstract

The dynamics of precessing binary black holes (BBHs) in the post-Newtonian regime has a strong timescale hierarchy: the orbital timescale is very short compared to the spin-precession timescale which, in turn, is much shorter than the radiation-reaction timescale on which the orbit is shrinking due to gravitational-wave emission. We exploit this timescale hierarchy to develop a multiscale analysis of BBH dynamics elaborating on the analysis of Kesden et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 081103 (2015)]. We solve the spin-precession equations analytically on the precession time and then implement a quasiadiabatic approach to evolve these solutions on the longer radiation-reaction time. This procedure leads to an innovative “precession-averaged” post-Newtonian approach to studying precessing BBHs. We use our new solutions to classify BBH spin precession into three distinct morphologies, then investigate phase transitions between these morphologies as BBHs inspiral. These precession-averaged post-Newtonian inspirals can be efficiently calculated from arbitrarily large separations, thus making progress towards bridging the gap between astrophysics and numerical relativity.

7 More

Received 10 June 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.92.064016

Authors & Affiliations

Davide Gerosa^1,*, Michael Kesden^2,†, Ulrich Sperhake^1,3,4,‡, Emanuele Berti^3,5,§, and Richard O’Shaughnessy^6,∥

¹Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, United Kingdom
²Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75080, USA
³Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi 38677, USA
⁴California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
⁵CENTRA, Departamento de Física, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Rovisco Pais 1, 1049 Lisboa, Portugal
⁶Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York 14623, USA

^*d.gerosa@damtp.cam.ac.uk
^†kesden@utdallas.edu
^‡u.sperhake@damtp.cam.ac.uk
^§eberti@olemiss.edu
^∥rossma@rit.edu

Effective Potentials and Morphological Transitions for Binary Black Hole Spin Precession

Michael Kesden, Davide Gerosa, Richard O’Shaughnessy, Emanuele Berti, and Ulrich Sperhake

Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 081103 (2015)

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Issue

Vol. 92, Iss. 6 — 15 September 2015

Reuse & Permissions

Access Options

Article Available via CHORUS

Download Accepted Manuscript

Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Physical Review D

covering particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology