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General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology, gr-qc,Astrophysics, Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, astro-ph.CO
Abstract:
(Abridged): We assess the statistical errors in estimating the parameters of
non-spinning black-hole binaries using ground-based gravitational-wave
detectors. While past assessments were based on only the inspiral/ring-down
pieces of the coalescence signal, the recent progress in analytical and
numerical relativity enables us to make more accurate projections using
"complete" inspiral-merger-ringdown waveforms. We employ the Fisher matrix
formalism to estimate how accurately the source parameters will be measurable
using a single interferometer as well as a network of interferometers. Those
estimates are further vetted by Monte-Carlo simulations. We find that the
parameter accuracies of the complete waveform are, in general, significantly
better than those of just the inspiral waveform in the case of binaries with
total mass M > 20 M_sun. For the case of the Advanced LIGO detector, parameter
estimation is the most accurate in the M=100-200 M_sun range. For an M=100M_sun
system, the errors in measuring the total mass and the symmetric mass-ratio are
reduced by an order of magnitude or more compared to inspiral waveforms. For
binaries located at a luminosity distance d_L and observed with the Advanced
LIGO--Advanced Virgo network, the sky-position error varies widely across the
sky: For M=100M_sun systems at d_L=1Gpc, this variation ranges from ~0.01
square-degrees to one square-degree, with an average value of ~0.1
square-degrees. This is more than forty times better than the average
sky-position accuracy of inspiral waveforms at this mass-range. The error in
estimating d_L is dominated by the error in measuring the wave's polarization
and is ~43% for low-mass binaries and ~23% for high-mass binaries located at
d_L=1Gpc.
