Intermediate Mass Ratio Black Hole Binary Merger up to 1000:1 with Numerical Relativity @LISAcommunity

Uploaded July 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago

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 has direct implications for future third generation (3G) gravitational wave detectors and space mission LISA, as by purely numerical methods we will be able to accurately compute gravitational waves, 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 $D\approx13M$. We compare these full numerical evolutions with the corresponding semianalytic 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. We conclude that we have the numerical techniques able to build up template banks in time for 3G detectors and LISA.

Authors: Carlos Lousto, James Healy
Presenter: Carlos Lousto

Intermediate Mass Ratio Black Hole Binary Merger up to 1000:1 with Numerical Relativity

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