Interplay between numerical relativity and perturbation theory : finite size effects

Understand

We investigate the interplay between numerical relativity (NR) and point-particle black hole perturbation theory (ppBHPT) in the comparable mass ratio regime.

• In the ppBHPT framework, the secondary black hole is treated as a point particle, neglecting its finite size.
• Our study focuses on addressing the missing finite size effect in the ppBHPT framework and proposing a method for incorporating the size of the secondary into the perturbation theory framework.
• We demonstrate that by considering the secondary as a finite size object, the BHPT waveforms closely match NR waveforms.