Speaker
Description
We are working to provide accurate modelling of the dynamics and gravitational-wave signatures of black hole inspirals in the intermediate-mass-ratio regime (IMIRIs) (1:100-1:1000). In doing so we hope to bridge the gap between the accurate modelling of extreme-mass-ratio inspirals achieved through black hole perturbation theory, and that of comparable-mass inspirals using numerical relativity. Neither approach works well for IMRIs due to the inability to treat the smaller black hole as a perturbation of the larger and yet disparate length scales remain, preventing computational efficiency in numerical relativity. IMRIs remain an important open problem in the field as such binary systems are not unlikely sources for Advanced LIGO and LISA and their observation would provide us with fundamental insight into black hole formation and astrophysical populations.
Our team at Southampton will work with the numerical relativity group at the Albert Einstein Institute to tackle the problem through a combination of black-hole perturbation and numerical relativistic techniques. This talk will give an overview of a new approach to IMRI modelling: matching an approximate analytic solution near the small black hole to a fully nonlinear numerical solution in the bulk of the spacetime. Preliminary results will be presented from a scalar toy model which tests the implementation of such a matching procedure.
