Abstract
To detect the gravitational-wave (GW) signal from binary neutron stars and extract information about the equation of state of matter at nuclear density, it is necessary to match the signal with a bank of accurate templates. We present the two longest (to date) general-relativistic simulations of equal-mass binary neutron stars with different compactnesses, and , and compare them with a tidal extension of the effective-one-body (EOB) model. The typical numerical phasing errors over the cycles are . By calibrating only one parameter (representing a higher-order amplification of tidal effects), the EOB model can reproduce, within the numerical error, the two numerical waveforms essentially up to the merger. By contrast, the third post-Newtonian Taylor-T4 approximant with leading-order tidal corrections dephases with respect to the numerical waveforms by several radians.
- Received 29 June 2010
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.261101
© 2010 The American Physical Society