Comparing eccentric waveform models based on post-Newtonian and effective-one-body approaches

Abstract

Abstract In the present study, two numerical models were compared to each other, namely the CBWaves and SEOBNRE algorithms, developed using the post-Newtonian and effective-one-body approaches, respectively, for the study of binary black holes evolving on eccentric orbits. To map the mismatch between the two models 260 000 simulations were conducted – 20 000 for non-spinning configurations and 240 000 for spinning ones—on a common grid of parameter values over the parameter space. This space is defined by the mass ratio q ≡ m 1 / m 2 ∈ [ 0.1 , 1 ] , the gravitational mass m i ∈ [ 10 M ⊙ , 100 M ⊙ ] of each component labeled by i, the corresponding spin magnitude S i ∈ [ 0 , 0.6 ] and a constant initial orbital eccentricity e 0. A comprehensive investigation was conducted to determine whether there was a discrepancy in the waveforms generated by the two codes. This entailed an in-depth analysis of the mismatch, and an extensive comparison was carried out on the outlier points between the two codes.