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General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology, gr-qc
Abstract:
We quantify the consistency of numerical-relativity black-hole-binary
waveforms for use in gravitational-wave (GW) searches with current and planned
ground-based detectors. We compare previously published results for the
$(\ell=2,| m | =2)$ mode of the gravitational waves from an equal-mass
nonspinning binary, calculated by five numerical codes. We focus on the 1000M
(about six orbits, or 12 GW cycles) before the peak of the GW amplitude and the
subsequent ringdown. We find that the phase and amplitude agree within each
code's uncertainty estimates. The mismatch between the $(\ell=2,| m| =2)$ modes
is better than $10^{-3}$ for binary masses above $60 M_{\odot}$ with respect to
the Enhanced LIGO detector noise curve, and for masses above $180 M_{\odot}$
with respect to Advanced LIGO, Virgo and Advanced Virgo. Between the waveforms
with the best agreement, the mismatch is below $2 \times 10^{-4}$. We find that
the waveforms would be indistinguishable in all ground-based detectors (and for
the masses we consider) if detected with a signal-to-noise ratio of less than
$\approx14$, or less than $\approx25$ in the best cases.