Spin-precessing compact binaries : gravitational wave modeling and information extraction

Abstract

In this dissertation we study the effect of spin-precession on gravitational waves emitted by quasicircular compact binary systems. In their most generic configuration, compact objects in a binary system are subject to interactions between the spin and the orbital angular momenta. These interactions give rise to precessional effects that add rich structure to the emitted gravitational waveforms. We study this spin-induced structure with an emphasis on extracting the information it encodes. In particular, we construct gravitational wave models that accurately capture spin-precessional effects. We then use them to study how much information relevant to astrophysics and nuclear physics we can extract from future observations of gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences.