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We extract gravitational waveforms from numerical simulations of black hole binaries computed using the Spectral Einstein Code. We compare two extraction methods: direct construction of the Newman-Penrose (NP) scalar ψ4 at a finite distance from the source and Cauchy-characteristic extraction (CCE). The direct NP approach is simpler than CCE, but NP waveforms can be contaminated by near-zone effects--unless the waves are extracted at several distances from the source and extrapolated to infinity. Even then, the resulting waveforms can in principle be contaminated by gauge effects. In contrast, CCE directly provides, by construction, gauge-invariant waveforms at future null infinity. We verify the gauge invariance of CCE by running the same physical simulation using two different gauge conditions. We find that these two gauge conditions produce the same CCE waveforms but show differences in extrapolated-ψ4 waveforms. We examine data from several different binary configurations and measure the dominant sources of error in the extrapolated-ψ4 and CCE waveforms. In some cases, we find that NP waveforms extrapolated to infinity agree with the corresponding CCE waveforms to within the estimated error bars. However, we find that in other cases extrapolated and CCE waveforms disagree, most notably for m = 0 "memory" modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gravitational waves emitted by black-hole binary systems have the highest signal-to-noise ratio in LIGO and Virgo detectors when black-hole spins are aligned with the orbital angular momentum and extremal. For such systems, we extend the effective-one-body inspiral-merger-ringdown waveforms to generic mass ratios and spins calibrating them to 38 numerical-relativity nonprecessing waveforms produced by the SXS Collaboration. The numerical-relativity simulations span mass ratios from 1 to 8, spin magnitudes up to 98% of extremality, and last for 40 to 60 gravitational-wave cycles. When the total mass of the binary is between 20 and 200AiQ, the effective-one-body nonprecessing (dominant mode) waveforms have overlap above 99% (using the advanced-LIGO design noise spectral density) with all of the 38 nonprecessing numerical waveforms, when maximizing only on initial phase and time. This implies a negligible loss in event rate due to modeling. We also show that--without further calibration-- the precessing effective-one-body (dominant mode) waveforms have overlap above 97% with two very long, strongly precessing numerical-relativity waveforms, when maximizing only on the initial phase and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The behavior of merging black holes (including the emitted gravitational waves and the properties of the remnant) can currently be computed only by numerical simulations. This paper introduces ten numerical relativity simulations of binary black holes with equal masses and equal spins aligned or antialigned with the orbital angular momentum. The initial spin magnitudes have |Xi| ≤ 0.95 and are more concentrated in the aligned direction because of the greater astrophysical interest of this case. We combine these data with five previously reported simulations of the same configuration, but with different spin magnitudes, including the highest spin simulated to date, Xi ≈ 0.97. This data set is sufficiently accurate to enable us to offer improved analytic fitting formulas for the final spin and for the energy radiated by gravitational waves as a function of initial spin. The improved fitting formulas can help to improve our understanding of the properties of binary black hole merger remnants and can be used to enhance future approximate waveforms for gravitational wave searches, such as effective-one-body waveforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies sufficient accuracy criteria of hybrid post-Newtonian (PN) and numerical relativity (NR) waveforms for parameter estimation of strong binary black-hole sources in second-generation ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. We investigate equal-mass nonspinning binaries with a new 33-orbit NR waveform, as well as unequal-mass binaries with mass ratios 2, 3, 4 and 6. For equal masses, the 33-orbit NR waveform allows us to recover previous results and to extend the analysis toward matching at lower frequencies. For unequal masses, the errors between different PN approximants increase with mass ratio. Thus, at 3.5 PN, hybrids for higher-mass-ratio systems would require NR waveforms with many more gravitational-wave cycles to guarantee no adverse impact on parameter estimation. Furthermore, we investigate the potential improvement in hybrid waveforms that can be expected from fourth-order post-Newtonian waveforms and find that knowledge of this fourth post- Newtonian order would significantly improve the accuracy of hybrid waveforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The behavior of merging black holes (including the emitted gravitational waves and the properties of the remnant) can currently be computed only by numerical simulations. This paper introduces ten numerical relativity simulations of binary black holes with equal masses and equal spins aligned or antialigned with the orbital angular momentum. The initial spin magnitudes have |i|0.95 and are more concentrated in the aligned direction because of the greater astrophysical interest of this case. We combine these data with five previously reported simulations of the same configuration, but with different spin magnitudes, including the highest spin simulated to date, i0.97. This data set is sufficiently accurate to enable us to offer improved analytic fitting formulas for the final spin and for the energy radiated by gravitational waves as a function of initial spin. The improved fitting formulas can help to improve our understanding of the properties of binary black hole merger remnants and can be used to enhance future approximate waveforms for gravitational wave searches, such as effective-one-body waveforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]