Effective-One-Body Approach to the Dynamics of Relativistic Binary Systems

by Prof. Thibault DAMOUR (IHES, Bures-sur-Yvette, France)

Friday 16 Apr 2010, 14:15 → 15:15 Europe/Zurich

Auditoire Stueckelberg (University of Geneva)

Coalescing black hole binaries are among the most promising gravitational wave sources for the network of ground-based interferometric gravitational wave detectors (LIGO/VIRGO/GEO/...). In order to be able to detect, and analyze, the gravitational wave signals emitted by coalescing systems of black holes, or neutron stars, it is crucial to have an accurate analytical model of these signals. The Effective-One-Body (EOB) formalism is an analytical approach which appears able to provide an accurate description of the motion and radiation of coalescing binary systems. We shall describe the basic theoretical elements of this formalism, as well as its recent extension to the problem of tidally interacting neutron star systems.