Gravitational waves from inspiraling compact binaries: Second post-Newtonian waveforms as search templates. II - art. no. 064030

We continue the analysis of the second post-Newtonian (PN) waveforms of ins piraling compact binaries and their suitability for the detection of gravit ational waves. Our previous work is extended by reporting results for the n oise curves of the advances and initial LIGO detectors as well as the Calte ch 40 m prototype, for which the 2 PN templates are actually used. This is done by comparing the PN waveforms to signals computed from black hole pert urbation theory. We have furthermore assessed the quality of the 2 PN templ ates for a continuous mass range, rather than for individual systems only. In particular we present the region in the binary mass plane for which the loss of signal to noise is less than 10%. Finally, we discuss the validity of our analysis in the mass region where black hole perturbation theory is not to be trusted anymore. We argue that our results stay valid nevertheles s. [S0556-2821(99)01506-4].