Numerical relativity surrogate model with memory effects and post-Newtonian hybridization

Numerical relativity simulations provide the most precise templates for the gravitational waves produced by binary black hole mergers. However, many of these simulations use an incomplete waveform extraction technique – extrapolation – that fails to capture important physics, such as gravitational memory effects. Cauchy-characteristic evolution (CCE), by contrast, is a much more physically accurate extraction procedure that fully evolves Einstein’s equations to future null infinity and accurately captures the expected physics. In this work, we present a new surrogate model, NRHybSur3dq8_CCE, built from CCE waveforms that have been mapped to the post-Newtonian (PN) BMS frame and then hybridized with PN and effective one-body (EOB) waveforms. This model is trained on 102 waveforms with mass ratios q≤8 and aligned spins χ_1z,χ_2z ∈ [−0.8,0.8]. The model spans the entire LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) frequency band (with f_low=20Hz) for total masses M ≳ 2.25M_⊙ and includes the ℓ≤4 and (ℓ,m)=(5,5) spin-weight −2 spherical harmonic modes, but not the (3,1), (4,2) or (4,1) modes. We find that NRHybSur3dq8_CCE can accurately reproduce the training waveforms with mismatches ≲ 2×10⁻⁴ for total masses 2.25M_⊙ ≤ M ≤ 300M_⊙ and can, for a modest degree of extrapolation, capably model outside of its training region. Most importantly, unlike previous waveform models, the new surrogate model successfully captures memory effects.