Comparison of search templates for gravitational waves from binary inspiral - art. no. 044023

We compare the performances of the templates defined by three different typ es of approaches: traditional post-Newtonian templates (Taylor approximants ), "resummed" post-Newtonian templates assuming the adiabatic approximation and stopping before the plunge (P approximants), and further "resummed" po st-Newtonian templates going beyond the adiabatic approximation and incorpo rating the plunge with its transition from the inspiral (effective-one-body approximants). The signal to noise ratio is significantly enhanced (mainly because of the inclusion of the plunge signal) by using these new effectiv e-one-body templates relative to the usual post-Newtonian ones for a total binary mass m greater than or similar to 30M., and reaches a maximum around m similar to 80M.. Independently of the question of the plunge signal, the comparison of the various templates confirms the usefulness of using resum mation methods. The paper also summarizes the key elements of the construct ion of various templates and thus can serve as a resource for those involve d in writing inspiral search software.