Assessing the readiness of numerical relativity for LISA and 3G detectors
D. L. Ferguson, K. Jani, Pablo Laguna, Deirdre Shoemaker
Abstract
Future detectors such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna promise signal-to-noise ratios potentially in the thousands and data containing simultaneous signals. Accurate numerical relativity waveforms will be essential to maximizing the science return. A question of interest to the broad gravitational wave community is: Are the numerical relativity codes ready to face this challenge? Towards answering this question, we provide a new criteria to identify the minimum resolution a simulation must have as a function of signal-to-noise ratio in order for the numerical relativity waveform to be indistinguishable from a true signal. This criteria can be applied to any finite-differencing numerical relativity code with multiple simulations of differing resolutions for the desired binary parameters and waveform length. We apply this criteria to binary systems of interest with the fourth-order MAYA code to obtain the first estimate of the minimum resolution a simulation must have to be prepared for next generation detectors.