An improved analytical description of inspiralling and coalescing black-hole binaries

We present an analytical formalism, within the Effective-One-Body framework, which predicts gravitational-wave signals from inspiralling and coalescing black-hole binaries that agree, within numerical errors, with the results of the currently most accurate numerical relativity simulations for several different mass ratios. In the equal-mass case, the gravitational wave energy flux predicted by our formalism agrees, within numerical errors, with the most accurate numerical-relativity energy flux. We think that our formalism opens a realistic possibility of constructing a sufficiently accurate, large bank of gravitational wave templates, as needed both for detection and data analysis of (non spinning) coalescing binary black holes.