Spin effects in the inspiral of coalescing compact binaries

Abstract

We derive the contributions of spin-orbit and spin-spin coupling to the gravitational radiation from coalescing binary systems of spinning compact objects. We calculate spin effects in the symmetric, trace-free radiative multipoles that determine the gravitational wave form, and the rate of energy loss. Assuming a balance between energy radiated and orbital energy lost, we determine the spin effects in the evolution of the orbital frequency and orbital radius. Assuming that a laser interferometric gravitational observatory can track the gravitational-wave frequency (twice the orbital frequency) as it sweeps through its sensitive bandwidth between about 10 Hz and 1 kHz, we estimate the accuracy with which the spins of the component bodies can be determined from the gravitational-wave signal.