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# Coalescence of Two Spinning Black Holes: An Effective One-Body Approach

## I Introduction

The most promising candidate sources for the LIGO/VIRGO/GEO/$`\mathrm{}`$ network of ground based gravitational wave (GW) interferometric detectors are coalescing binary systems made of massive (stellar) black holes . Signal to noise ratio (SNR) estimates  suggest that the first detections will concern black hole binaries of total mass $`>\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}25}M_{}`$. Modelling the GW signal emitted by such systems poses a difficult theoretical problem because the observationally most “useful” part of the gravitational waveform is emitted in the last $`5`$ orbits of the inspiral, and during the “plunge” taking place after crossing the last stable circular orbit. The transition between (adiabatic) inspiral and plunge takes place in a regime where the two bodies are moving at relativistic speeds ($`v/c1/\sqrt{6}0.4`$) and where their gravitational interaction becomes (nearly by definition) highly non-linear ($`GM/c^2r1/6`$).

Several authors (notably ) have taken the view that the modelling of this crucial transition between inspiral and plunge is (in the general case of comparable-mass systems) beyond the reach of analytical tools and can only be tackled by (possibly special-purpose ) numerical simulations. By contrast, other authors  have introduced new “resummation methods” to improve the analytical description of the last few GW cycles near this transition and have argued that these resummed analytical results gave a reliable description of the gravitational physics near the transition. The purpose of the present paper is to further the latter approach by generalizing the (resummed) “effective one-body” (EOB) methods introduced in  to the case of binary systems of spinning black holes. Before doing this, we wish to clarify what is the rationale for arguing that the “resummed” analytical approach can describe the last stages of inspiral and the transition between inspiral and plunge.

Let us first recall that a lot of effort has been devoted in recent years to the analytical computing, by means of post-Newtonian (PN) expansions in powers of $`v^2/c^2GM/c^2r`$, of the equations of motion, and the GW emission, of comparable-mass binary systems. The equations of motions have been computed to $`v^6/c^6`$ ($`3`$ PN) accuracy by two separate groups,  and , and the two results have been shown to agree . Until recently, there remained (in both approaches) an ambiguous parameter, $`\omega _s`$, linked to the problem of regularizing some badly divergent integrals arising at the 3 PN level. In a recent work, using an improved regularization method (dimensional continuation), the first group  has succeeded in determining without ambiguity the value of $`\omega _s`$, namely $`\omega _s=0`$. This unique determination of the 3PN equations of motion is consistent with an old argument of  showing that it should be possible to model black holes by point particles without ambiguity up to the 5 PN level (excluded). The emission of GW is unambiguously known to $`v^5/c^5`$ ($`2.5`$ PN) accuracy , and has recently been formally computed to $`v^7/c^7`$ ($`3.5`$ PN) accuracy , modulo the appearance of several ambiguous parameters ($`\xi ,\kappa ,\zeta `$) linked to the problem of regularizing some divergences arising at the 3PN level. Dimensional regularization is expected to determine without ambiguity the values of $`\xi ,\kappa `$, and $`\zeta `$, but has not (yet) been applied to the radiation problem.

We wish to emphasize that such high-order PN results are a necessary, but not by themselves sufficient, ingredient for computing with adequate accuracy the gravitational waveform of coalescing binaries. Indeed, it was emphasized long ago  that the PN series (written as straightforward Taylor series in powers of some parameter $`\epsilon v/c`$) become slowly convergent in the late stages of binary inspiral. A first attempt was made in  to improve the convergence of the PN-expanded equations of motion so as to determine the (crucial) location of the last stable (circular) orbit (LSO) for comparable-mass systems. However, further work  has shown the unreliability (and coordinate-dependence) of this attempt. There is, however, no reason of principle preventing the existence of gauge-invariant “resummation methods” able to give reliable results near the LSO. Indeed, as emphasized in  and  most coordinate-invariant functions (of some invariant quantity $`xv^2/c^2GM/c^2r`$) that one wishes to consider when discussing the dynamics and GW emission of circular orbits are expected to have a singularity only at the “light ring” (LR) value of $`x`$ \[last possible unstable circular orbit\]. If we trust (for orders of magnitude considerations) the small mass-ratio limit ($`\nu \mu /Mm_1m_2/(m_1+m_2)^21`$), we know that $`x_{\mathrm{LR}}1/3`$ is smaller by a factor 2 than $`x_{\mathrm{LSO}}1/6`$. If the functions $`f(x)`$ we are dealing with are meromorphic functions of $`x`$, the location of the expected closest singularity $`(x_{\mathrm{LR}})`$ determines their radius of convergence. Therefore, we expect that, for $`x<x_{\mathrm{LR}}`$, the Taylor expansion of $`f(x)`$ will converge and will behave essentially like $`_n(x/x_{\mathrm{LR}})^n`$. In particular, one expects $`f(x_{\mathrm{LSO}})_n(x_{\mathrm{LSO}}/x_{\mathrm{LR}})^n2^n`$. This heuristic argument suggests a rather slow convergence, but the crucial point is to have some convergence, so that the application of suitable resummation methods can be expected to accelerate the convergence and to lead to numerically accurate results from the knowledge of only a few terms in the Taylor expansion. There exist many types of resummation methods and none of them are of truly universal applicability. As a rule, one must know something about the structure of the functions $`f(x)=f_0+f_1x+f_2x^2+\mathrm{}`$ one is trying to resum to be able to devise an efficient resummation method. Refs. , ,  and  have studied in detail the various functions that might be used to discuss the GW flux and the dynamics of binary systems. This work has led to selecting some specific resummation methods, acting on some specific functions. For what concerns the GW flux we refer to Fig. 3 of  for evidence of the acceleration of convergence (near the LSO) provided by a specific resummation method combining a redefinition of the GW flux function with Padé approximants. We wish here, for the benefit of the skeptics, to exhibit some of the evidence for the acceleration of convergence (near the LSO) in the description of the 2-body dynamics provided, at the 3 PN level, by a resummation method defined by combining  and . Specifically, we mean the combination of the effective-one-body (EOB) approach (further discussed below) and of a suitable Padé resummation of the effective radial potential at the $`n`$ PN level: $`A_{P_n}(u)=P_n^1[T_{n+1}(A(u))]`$ (see below).

Let us consider a sequence of circular orbits, near the LSO and for two non-spinning black holes. In the EOB approach the circular orbits are obtained by minimizing a certain effective radial potential, defined by fixing the total orbital angular momentum $`L`$ in the Hamiltonian. The most natural variable defining the one-parameter sequence of circular orbits is then simply the angular momentum $`L`$. It is therefore natural, for the purpose of this work, to measure the separation between the two holes (in a gauge-invariant and approximation-independent) way by conventionally defining a $`\mathrm{}`$-radius $`R_{\mathrm{}}GMr_{\mathrm{}}`$, such that the (invariantly defined) total orbital angular momentum $`LG\mu M\mathrm{}`$ is given by $`\mathrm{}^2r_{\mathrm{}}^2/(r_{\mathrm{}}3)`$, i.e. by the relation holding for a test particle in a Schwarzschild spacetime. \[Here, and in the following, we shall often set $`c=1`$ and/or $`G=1`$, except in some (final) formulas where it might be illuminating to reestablish the dependence on $`c`$ and/or $`G`$.\] As the problem is to know whether the resummation method of the PN-expanded two-body dynamics is efficient, we compare in Table I the total energies $`_{\mathrm{real}}`$ of the binary system, computed using 1 PN, 2 PN and 3 PN information, for circular orbits at $`\mathrm{}`$-radii $`r_{\mathrm{}}=12,11,10,9,8,7`$, and 6. We give the values of the binding energy per unit (total) mass, $`e(/M)1`$, for the equal-mass case ($`m_1=m_2`$; $`\nu =1/4`$).

The numbers displayed in Table I illustrate the efficiency of the resummation method advocated in . For $`r_{\mathrm{}}=12`$ the fractional difference in binding energy between the 1 PN approximation and the 3 PN one is 0.74%, while even for $`r_{\mathrm{}}=6`$ this difference is only 3.6%. These numbers indicate that, even near the LSO, the Padé-improved effective-one-body approach is a rationally sound way of computing the 2-body dynamics. There are no signs of numerical unreliability, as there were in the calculations based on the straightforward coordinate-dependent, PN-expanded versions of the equations of motion  or of the Hamiltonian  (which gave results differing by $`𝒪`$ (100%) among themselves, and as one changed the PN order). We shall see below that the robustness of the PN-resummation exhibited in Table I extends to a large domain of the parameter space of spinning black holes.

As we do not know the exact result, and as current numerical simulations do not give reliable information about the late stages of the quasi-circular orbital dynamics of two black holes (see below), the kind of internal consistency check exhibited in Table I is about the only evidence we can set forth at present. \[Note that, from a logical point of view, the situation here is the same as for numerical simulations: in absence of an exact solution (and of experimental data) one can only do internal convergence tests.\] Ideally, it would be important to extend the checks of Table I to the 4 PN level (to confirm the trend and see a real sign of convergence to a limit) but this seems to be an hopelessly difficult task with present analytical means. Finally, let us note that the fact that one can concoct many “bad” ways of using the PN-expanded information near the LSO (exhibiting as badly divergent results as wished) is not a valid argument against the reliability of the specific resummation technique used in  and here. An ambiguity problem would arise only if one could construct two different resummation methods, both exhibiting an internal “convergence” (as the PN order increases) as good as that illustrated in Table I, but yielding very different predictions for physical observables near the LSO. This is not the case at present because the comparative study of  (see Table I there) has shown that the EOB approach exhibited (when $`\omega _s9`$) significantly better PN convergence than a panel of other invariant resummation methods.

In the following we take for granted the soundness of the effective-one-body resummation approach and we show how to generalize it to the case of two (moderately) spinning black holes. Let us first recall that the basic idea of the EOB approach was first developed in the context of the electromagnetically interacting quantum two-body problem ,  (see also ). A first attempt to deal with the gravitationally interacting two-body problem (at the 1 PN level) was made in  (see also ). A renewed EOB approach (which significantly differs from the general framework set up by Todorov and coworkers ) was introduced in . The latter reference showed how to apply this method at the 2 PN level. It was then used to study the transition between the inspiral and the plunge for comparable masses, and, in particular, to construct a complete waveform covering the inspiral, the plunge and the final merger  (see  for the physical consequences of this waveform). More recently, Ref.  showed how to extend the EOB approach to the 3 PN level (this required a non trivial generalization of the basic idea).

Before entering the details of our way of introducing the spin degrees of freedom in the EOB approach, let us state our general view of the usefulness of the EOB method in this context. As we shall discuss below, the present work (which incorporates spin effects at leading PN order) can only be expected to give physically reliable results in the case of moderate spins ( $`\widehat{a}_p0.3`$, see below). However, the EOB approach, far from being a rigid structure, is extremely flexible. One can modify the basic functions (such as $`A(u)`$) determining the EOB dynamics by introducing new parameters corresponding to (yet) uncalculated higher PN effects. \[ These terms become important only for orbits closer than $`6GM`$, and/or for fast-spinning holes.\] Therefore, when either higher-accuracy analytical calculations are performed or numerical relativity becomes able to give physically relevant data about the interaction of (fast-spinning) black holes, we expect that it will be possible to complete the current EOB Hamiltonian so as to incorporate this information. As the parameter space of two spinning black holes (with arbitrarily oriented spins) is very large, numerical relativity will never be able, by itself, to cover it densely. We think, however, that a suitable “numerically fitted” (and, if possible, “analytically extended”) EOB Hamiltonian should be able to fit the needs of upcoming GW detectors. The present work should be viewed as a first step in this direction.

The present paper is organized as follows. In Section II we show how to incorporate (in some approximation) the spin degrees of freedom of each black hole within a 3 PN-level, resummed effective one-body approach. In Section III we study some of the predictions of our resummed dynamics, notably for what concerns the location of the transition between the inspiral and the plunge. Section IV contains our concluding remarks.

## II Effective one-body approach, effective spin and a deformed Kerr metric

### A Effective one-body approach

Let us recall the basic set up of the effective one-body (EOB) approach. One starts from the (PN-expanded) two-body equations of motion, which depend on the dynamical variables of two particles. One separates the equations of motion in a “conservative part”, and a “radiation reaction part”. Though this separation is not well-defined at the exact (general relativistic) level it is not ambiguous at the 3 PN level (in the conservative part) which we shall consider here ***We expect real ambiguities to arise only at the $`v^{10}/c^{10}`$ 5 PN level, because this corresponds to the square of the leading, $`v^5/c^5`$ 2.5 PN, radiation reaction terms.. We shall henceforth consider only the conservative part of the dynamics. \[We leave to future work the generalization to spinning black holes of the definition of resummed radiation reaction effects which was achieved in  for non-spinning black holes.\] It has been explicitly shown that the 3 PNHenceforth, ‘3 PN’ will mean the conservative 3 PN dynamics, i.e. $`N+1\mathrm{PN}+2\mathrm{PN}+3\mathrm{PN}`$. dynamics is Poincaré invariant , . The ten first integrals associated to the ten generators of the Poincaré group were constructed in  (see also ). In particular, we have the “center of mass” vectorial constant $`𝑲=𝑮t𝑷`$. This constant allows one to define the center of mass frame, in which $`𝑲=0`$, which implies $`𝑷=0`$ and $`𝑮=0`$. We can then reduce the PN-expanded two-body dynamics to a PN-expanded one-body dynamics by considering the relative motion in the center of mass frame. This reduction leads to a great simplification of the dynamics.

Indeed, the full 3 PN Hamiltonian in an arbitrary reference frame  contains $`𝒪(100)`$ terms, while its center-of-mass-reduced version contains only 24 terms. However, this simplification is, by itself, insufficient for helping in any way the crucial problem of the slow convergence of the PN expansion. One should also mention that the use of an Hamiltonian framework (like the ADM formalism used in ) is extremely convenient (much more so than an approach based on the harmonic-coordinates equations of motion, as in ). Indeed, on the one hand it simplifies very much the reduction to the center-of-mass relative dynamics (which is trivially obtained by setting $`𝒑_{\mathrm{rel}}=𝒑_1=𝒑_2`$), and on the other hand it yields directly (without guesswork) an action principle for the dynamicsNote that a subtlety arises at 3 PN  in that the Hamilton action principle involves derivatives of the phase space variables. However, it was shown in  how to reduce the problem to an ordinary Hamiltonian dynamics by means of a suitable $`𝒪(v^6/c^6)`$ shift of phase-space variables. We henceforth assume that we work with the shifted variables defined in .. We shall find also below that an Hamiltonian approach is very convenient for dealing with the spin degrees of freedom.

Up to now, we only mentionned the dynamics of the orbital degrees of freedom, i.e. (in the order-reduced Hamiltonian formalism) the (ADM-coordinate) positions and momenta $`𝒙_1,𝒙_2,𝒑_1,𝒑_2`$ of the two black holes§§§We recall that the high-order perturbative, PN-expanded, calculations of the dynamics of two non-spinning compact objects model these objects by delta-function (monopole) sources. The supports of these delta-functions define the coordinate “positions” of the compact objects. As explained in  these “positions” physically correspond to some “centers of the gravitational field” generated by the objects.. After reduction to the center-of-mass frame ($`𝑷=𝒑_1+𝒑_2=0`$), and to the relative dynamics ($`𝒙𝒙_1𝒙_2`$, $`𝒑𝒑_1=𝒑_2`$), one ends up with a canonical pair $`𝒙`$, $`𝒑`$ of phase-space variables.

The addition of spin degrees of freedom on each black hole is, a priori, a rather complicated matter. If one wished to have a relativistically covariant description of the dynamics of two spinning objects, one would need not only to add, in Einstein’s equations, extra (covariant) source terms proportional to suitable derivatives of delta-functions (spin dipoles), but also to enlarge the two-body action principle to incorporate the spin variables. The first task is doable, and has been performed (to the lowest order) in several works, such as Refs. . For other works on the relativistic equations of motion of black holes or extended bodies (endowed with spin and higher multipole moments) see . Recently, Ref.  has tackled the next-to-leading order contribution to spin-orbit effects. \[We consider here only the case of interacting, comparable massive objects. The problem of a spinning test particle in an external field is simpler and has been dealt with by many authors, such as Mathisson , Papapetrou , etc$`\mathrm{}`$\] On the other hand, the second task (incorporating the spin degrees of freedom in an action principle) is quite intricate. First, it has been found that, within a relativistically covariant set up for a spinning particle, the Lagrangian describing the orbital motion could not, even at lowest order in the spin, be taken as an ordinary Lagrangian $`L(x,\dot{x})`$, but needed to be a higher-order one $`L(x,\dot{x},\ddot{x},\mathrm{})`$ . Second, a relativistically covariant treatment of the spin degrees of freedom is an intricate matter, involving all the subtleties of constrained dynamical systems, even in the simplest case of a free relativistic top . Contrary to the case of the spin-independent EOB where it was easy to use the test-mass results to constrain the EOB Hamiltonian, the Mathisson-Papapetrou dynamics of spinning test masses in external gravitational fields is rather complicated and cannot easily be used to constrain the spin-dependent EOB Hamiltonian. (It might, however, be interesting to try to do so.) Fortunately, there is a technically much lighter approach which bypasses these problems and simplifies both the description of orbital degrees of freedom and that of spin degrees of freedom. This approach is not manifestly relativistically covariant. This lack of manifest Poincaré covariance is not (in principle) a problem at all for two reasons: (i) it does not prevent the expected global Poincaré covariance of the two-body dynamics to be realized as a phase-space symmetry (as was explicitly proven, at 3 PN, for the orbital degrees of motion in Ref. ), and (ii) as we are, at this stage, mainly interested in the description of the relative motion in a specific (center-of-mass) Lorentz frame, there is no physical need to enforce any boost invariance. This non covariant approach to the gravitational interaction of spinning objects stems from the classic work of Breit on the electromagnetic interaction of (quantum) spinning electrons (see, e.g. ) and has been developed in a sequence of papers . \[The change of variables needed to pass from the covariant, higher-order Lagrangian description to the non-covariant, ordinary Lagrangian has been discussed in several papers, e.g. .\] In the present paper, we shall combine the non manifestely covariant, ADM-Hamiltonian treatment of the orbital degrees of freedom of , with the similarly non covariant, but Hamiltonian, treatment of the spin degrees of freedom of . Moreover, as is explained below, we shall improve upon  in using a direct Poisson-bracket treatment of the dynamical spin variables.

Finally, our starting point (for the effective one-body approach) is a PN-expanded Hamiltonian for the relative motion of two spinning objects of the form

$`H_{\mathrm{real}}^{\mathrm{PN}}(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_1,𝑺_2)`$ $`=`$ $`H_{\mathrm{orb}}^{\mathrm{PN}}(𝒙,𝒑)+H_S^{\mathrm{PN}}(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_1,𝑺_2)`$ (1)
$`+`$ $`H_{SS}^{\mathrm{PN}}(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_1,𝑺_2)+H_{SSS}^{\mathrm{PN}}(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_1,𝑺_2)+\mathrm{}`$ (2)
Here, $`H_{\mathrm{orb}}^{\mathrm{PN}}`$ denotes the PN-expanded orbital Hamiltonian, which is the sum of the free Hamiltonian $`H_0=\sqrt{m_1^2c^4+𝒑_1^2c^2}+\sqrt{m_2^2c^4+𝒑_2^2c^2}`$ and of the monopolar interaction Hamiltonian $`H_{\mathrm{int}}^m`$ generated by the source terms proportional to the masses. Before the reduction to the center-of-mass frame $`H_{\mathrm{int}}^m`$ has the symbolic structure: $`H_{\mathrm{int}}^mm_1m_2+m_1^2m_2+m_1m_2^2+m_1^3m_2+m_1^2m_2^2+m_1m_2^3+\mathrm{}m_1m_2(1+m_1+m_2+(m_1+m_2)^2+(m_1+m_2)^3+\mathrm{})`$. It is explicitly known up to the 3 PN level (i.e. up to velocity-independent terms $`m_1m_2(m_1+m_2)^3`$). After reduction to the center-of-mass frame the PN expansion of $`H_{\mathrm{orb}}^{\mathrm{PN}}`$ reads (with $`Mm_1+m_2`$, $`\mu m_1m_2/M`$, $`\nu \mu /Mm_1m_2/(m_1+m_2)^2`$, $`r|𝒙|`$, $`\widehat{𝒑}𝒑/\mu `$, $`\widehat{𝒙}𝒙/GM`$)

$$H_{\mathrm{orb}}^{\mathrm{PN}}(𝒙,𝒑)=Mc^2+H_N(𝒙,𝒑)+H_{1\mathrm{PN}}(𝒙,𝒑)+H_{2\mathrm{PN}}(𝒙,𝒑)+H_{3\mathrm{PN}}(𝒙,𝒑),$$
(3)
$$H_N(𝒙,𝒑)=\frac{𝒑^2}{2\mu }\frac{GM\mu }{r}=\mu \left[\frac{1}{2}\widehat{𝒑}^2\frac{1}{\widehat{r}}\right],$$
(4)
$$H_{1\mathrm{PN}}(𝒙,𝒑)=\frac{\mu }{c^2}\left[\frac{1}{8}(3\nu 1)\widehat{𝒑}^4\frac{1}{2}\left[(3+\nu )\widehat{𝒑}^2+\nu (𝒏\widehat{𝒑})^2\right]\frac{1}{\widehat{r}}+\frac{1}{2\widehat{r}^2}\right],$$
(5)
$$H_{2\mathrm{PN}}(𝒙,𝒑)=\frac{\mu }{c^4}\left[\frac{1}{16}(15\nu +5\nu ^2)\widehat{𝒑}^6+\mathrm{}\frac{1}{4}(1+3\nu )\frac{1}{\widehat{r}^3}\right],$$
(6)
$`H_{3\mathrm{PN}}(𝒙,𝒑)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mu }{c^6}}[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{128}}(5+35\nu 70\nu ^2+35\nu ^3)\widehat{𝒑}^8+\mathrm{}`$ (7)
$`+`$ $`[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}+({\displaystyle \frac{109}{12}}{\displaystyle \frac{21}{32}}\pi ^2+\omega _s)\nu ]{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\widehat{r}^4}}].`$ (8)
We have exhibited (for illustration) in Eqs. (6) and (7) only the first and the last terms. We refer to  for the full (center-of-mass) 2 PN Hamiltonian (7 terms in all), and to  for the full (center-of-mass) 3 PN Hamiltonian (11 terms in all). Our effective one-body treatment will take into account the full 2 PN and 3 PN structures, but in a very streamlined way which will be explicitly displayed below.

The other terms in Eq. (1) denote the various spin-dependent contributions to the Hamiltonian: respectively the terms linear $`(H_S^{\mathrm{PN}})`$, quadratic $`(H_{SS}^{\mathrm{PN}})`$, cubic $`(H_{SSS}^{\mathrm{PN}})`$, etc$`\mathrm{}`$ in the spins $`𝑺_1`$, $`𝑺_2`$. Before reduction to the center-of-mass frame they have the symbolic structure:

$`H_S^{\mathrm{PN}}`$ $``$ $`S_1m_2(1+m_1+m_2+(m_1+m_2)^2+\mathrm{})`$ (9)
$`+`$ $`S_2m_1(1+m_1+m_2+(m_1+m_2)^2+\mathrm{}),`$ (10)
$`H_{SS}^{\mathrm{PN}}`$ $``$ $`S_1^2m_2\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{m_1}}+1+m_1+m_2+\mathrm{}\right)+S_1S_2(1+m_1+m_2+\mathrm{})`$ (11)
$`+`$ $`S_2^2m_1\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{m_2}}+1+m_1+m_2+\mathrm{}\right),`$ (12)
etc$`\mathrm{}`$ We shall explain below the occurence of the terms quadratic in the spins and inversely proportional to a mass. In contradistinction with the case of the orbital Hamiltonian which has been worked out with a high PN accuracy, only the simplest spin-dependent terms have been explicitly derived, namely the lowest PN-order term in $`H_S^{\mathrm{PN}}`$, whose center-of-mass reduction reads

$$H_S^{\mathrm{PN}}(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_1,𝑺_2)=\frac{2G}{c^2r^3}\left[\left(1+\frac{3}{4}\frac{m_2}{m_1}\right)𝑺_1+\left(1+\frac{3}{4}\frac{m_1}{m_2}\right)𝑺_2\right](𝒙\times 𝒑)+𝒪\left(\frac{1}{c^4}\right),$$
(13)
and the lowest PN-order one-graviton exchange contribution to the bilinear term $`(S_1S_2)`$ in $`H_{SS}^{\mathrm{PN}}`$. Ref.  contains some information about the $`𝒪(\frac{1}{c^4})`$ corrections in Eq. (13), but, because of the use of different gauge and spin conditions, not in a form which can be directly used to derive these corrections. We shall discuss the spin-bilinear contribution $`(S_1S_2)`$ below, together with the leading spin-quadratic contributions $`S_1^2m_2/m_1+S_2^2m_1/m_2`$.

Before going further, let us make clear that, before and after any type of resummation, the dynamics entailed by the Hamiltonians we shall consider $`H(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_1,𝑺_2)`$ follow, for all degrees of freedom, from the basic Poisson brackets

$$\{x^i,p_j\}=\delta _j^i,$$
(14)
$$\{S_1^i,S_1^j\}=\epsilon ^{ijk}S_1^k,$$
(15)
$$\{S_2^i,S_2^j\}=\epsilon ^{ijk}S_2^k,$$
(16)
$$0=\{x^i,x^j\}=\{p_i,p_j\}=\{S_1^i,S_2^j\}=\{x^i,S_1^j\}=\{x^i,S_2^j\}=\{p_i,S_1^j\}=\{p_i,S_2^j\}.$$
(17)
The (real) time evolution of any dynamical quantity $`f(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_1,𝑺_2)`$ is given by

$$\frac{d}{dt}f(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_1,𝑺_2)=\{f,H_{\mathrm{real}}\},$$
(18)
where the Poisson bracket (PB) $`\{f,H_{\mathrm{real}}\}`$ is computed from the basic PB’s (14)–(17) by using the standard PB properties (skew symmetry: $`\{f,g\}=\{g,f\}`$, Leibniz rule: $`\{f,gh\}=\{f,g\}h+g\{f,h\}`$, and the Jacobi identity: $`\{f,\{g,h\}\}+\{g,\{h,f\}\}+\{h,\{f,g\}\}=0`$). The simplest way to prove the statements (14)–(18) is to consider our dynamics as the classical limit of the quantum dynamics of a system of gravitationally interacting spinning particles. Surprisingly, though Refs.  derived (à la Breit) the spin-dependent contributions to the Hamiltonian by a quantum route, they never noticed that they could very simply derive the spin evolution equations by using the PB’s (15), (16). They had to go back to a Lagrangian formalism and add some explicit spin kinetic energy terms $`\left(\frac{1}{2}I_1𝝎_1^2+\frac{1}{2}I_2𝝎_2^2\right)`$ to derive the spin evolution equations. Note also that we have kept the label “real” on the Hamiltonian in Eq. (18) to distinguish the evolution with respect to the real time (associated with the original two-body system) from the evolution generated by the effective Hamiltonian to be introduced below (which is associated with an auxiliary, effective time).

Before generalizing it, by including the spin degrees of freedom, let us recall the results of  (2 PN level) and  (3 PN level) concerning the effective one-body “upgrading” of the PN-expanded orbital Hamiltonian $`H_{\mathrm{orb}}^{\mathrm{PN}}(𝒙,𝒑)`$. Again, the simplest way to motivate it is to think of our dynamics as the classical limit of a quantum dynamics defined by some hermitian Hamiltonian operator $`H_{\mathrm{orb}}(𝒙,i\mathrm{}\mathbf{})`$. We are mainly interested in the bound states of $`H_{\mathrm{orb}}`$. It is crucial to note that the orbital Hamiltonian (3)–(7) is symmetric under an $`O(3)`$ group (corresponding to arbitrary rotations of the relative position $`𝒙=𝒙_1𝒙_2`$, in the center-of-mass frame). Therefore the quantum (and classical) bound states will be labelled (besides parity) by only two quantum numbers: (i) the total orbital angular momentum $`𝑳^2=L(L+\mathrm{})`$, and (ii) some “principal quantum number” $`N`$ (such that $`(NL)/\mathrm{}`$ counts the number of nodes in the radial relative wave function). Both $`L`$ and $`N`$ are quantized in units of $`\mathrm{}`$. The full list of two-body bound states is thereby encoded in the formula giving the bound state energy as a function of the two quantum numbers $`L`$ and $`N:E_{\mathrm{real}}=E_{\mathrm{real}}(L,N)=Mc^2\frac{1}{2}\mu (Gm_1m_2)^2/N^2+E_{1\mathrm{PN}}(L,N)+E_{2\mathrm{PN}}(L,N)+E_{3\mathrm{PN}}(L,N)`$. The basic idea of the effective one-body method is to map (in a one-to-one manner) the discrete set of real two-body bound states $`E_{\mathrm{real}}(L,N)`$ onto the discrete set of bound states of an auxiliary (“effective”) one-body Hamiltonian $`H_{\mathrm{eff}}(𝒙_{\mathrm{eff}},𝒑_{\mathrm{eff}}`$). Because of the special labelling by (only) two integer quantum numbers $`L/\mathrm{}`$, $`N/\mathrm{}`$ one is naturally led to imposing that: (i) the EOB Hamiltonian be spherically symmetricWe are making this very explicit because some people, when they hear about the EOB approach, think that the effective metric describing the one-body dynamics should, at some level of approximation, include some Kerr-like features to model the velocity-dependent two-body interactions. This is not true for the orbital dynamics, whatever be the PN accuracy level. On the other hand, we shall see that we need Kerr-like features to accomodate the intrinsic spin effects., and (ii) the integer valued quantum numbers be identified in the two problems, i.e. $`L/\mathrm{}=L_{\mathrm{eff}}/\mathrm{}`$ and $`N/\mathrm{}=N_{\mathrm{eff}}/\mathrm{}`$. On the other hand, one can (and one a priori should) leave free a (one-to-one) continuous function $`f`$ mapping the real energies onto the effective ones: $`E_{\mathrm{eff}}(L,N)=f(E_{\mathrm{real}}(L,N))`$. Evidently, for this method to buy us anything we wish the effective dynamics to be significantly simpler than the original $`H_{\mathrm{real}}(𝒙,𝒑)`$, and, in particular, to reduce, in some approximation, to the paradigm of the simplest gravitational one-body problem, namely the dynamics of an (effective) test particle in some (to be determined) effective metric $`g_{\mu \nu }^{\mathrm{eff}}(x_{\mathrm{eff}}^\lambda )`$. Remarkably enough, it was found in  that such a mapping between the very complicated real two-body orbital 2 PN Hamiltonian (3)–(6) and the usual (“geodesic”) dynamics of a test particle of mass $`\mu =m_1m_2/(m_1+m_2)`$ in a very simple (spherically symmetric) effective metric

$$ds_{\mathrm{eff}}^2=A(r_{\mathrm{eff}})c^2dt_{\mathrm{eff}}^2+\frac{D(r_{\mathrm{eff}})}{A(r_{\mathrm{eff}})}dr_{\mathrm{eff}}^2+r_{\mathrm{eff}}^2(d\theta ^2+\mathrm{sin}^2\theta d\phi ^2),$$
(19)
is possible, if and only if the energy mapping $`E_{\mathrm{eff}}=f(E_{\mathrm{real}})`$ is given by

$$\frac{E_{\mathrm{eff}}}{\mu c^2}=\frac{E_{\mathrm{real}}^2m_1^2c^4m_2^2c^4}{2m_1m_2c^4}.$$
(20)
Remarkably, the simple energy map (20) (which is here determined by our requirements) coincides with the energy map introduced in several other investigations ,  (and is simply related to the one defined a priori in ).

Recently, the problem of mapping the extremely complicated real two-body 3 PN Hamiltonian (7) onto an effective one-body dynamics has been solved . Again the result is remarkably simple, though less simple than at the 2 PN level. Indeed, it was foundIn fact,  found that it was possible to map the real dynamics onto the geodesic dynamics of a test particle. However, both the effective metric and the modified energy map needed for this representation are rather complicated. It was felt that it is more convincing to keep a simple effective metric, and a simple energy map, but to relax the constraint of geodesic motion. that the effective one-body dynamics was given by an Hamilton-Jacobi equation of the form (with $`p_\alpha ^{\mathrm{eff}}=S/x_{\mathrm{eff}}^\alpha `$)

$$0=\mu ^2+g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{\alpha \beta }p_\alpha ^{\mathrm{eff}}p_\beta ^{\mathrm{eff}}+Q_4(p^{\mathrm{eff}}),$$
(21)
with a simple (spherically symmetric) effective metric of the form (19) and some additional quartic-in-momenta contribution $`Q_4(p)`$. Remarkably, it was found that, at the 3 PN level, the energy mapping is again uniquely determined to be the simple relation (20). As for the metric coefficients of the (covariant) effective metric $`g_{\alpha \beta }^{\mathrm{eff}}`$, and the quartic terms $`Q_4(p)`$, they were found to be

$$A(r)=12\widehat{u}+2\nu \widehat{u}^3+a_4(\nu )\widehat{u}^4,$$
(22)
$$D(r)=16\nu \widehat{u}^2+2(3\nu 26)\nu \widehat{u}^3,$$
(23)
$$\frac{Q_4(p)}{\mu ^2}=2(43\nu )\nu \widehat{u}^2(𝒏\widehat{𝒑})^4,$$
(24)
where $`\widehat{u}GM/r`$, $`\widehat{𝒑}=𝒑/\mu `$ and

$$a_4(\nu )=\left(\frac{94}{3}\frac{41}{32}\pi ^2+2\omega _s\right)\nu .$$
(25)
As we said above, the correct value of $`\omega _s`$ has been recently found  to be simply $`\omega _s=0`$. We shall find, however, convenient to keep $`\omega _s`$ as a free parameter in order to assess the quantitative importance of 3PN effects.

Let us emphasize again the streamlined nature of the effective one-body description of the orbital dynamics. Successively, as the PN order increases, one can say that: (i) the 6 terms of the Newtonian plus first post-Newtonian relative Hamiltonian (4), (5) can be mapped (via (20) and a canonical transformation of $`(𝒙,𝒑)`$) onto geodesic motion in a Schwarzschild spacetime of mass $`M`$ (i.e. $`A_{1\mathrm{PN}}=12\widehat{u}`$, $`D_{1\mathrm{PN}}=1`$), (ii) to take into account the 7 additional terms entering $`H_{2\mathrm{PN}}`$, Eq. (6), it is enough to add $`+\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\nu \widehat{u}^3`$ to $`A(r)`$ and $`\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}6}\nu \widehat{u}^2`$ to $`D(r)`$, and (iii) to take into account the 11 additional terms entering $`H_{3\mathrm{PN}}`$, it is enough to further add $`+a_4(\nu )\widehat{u}^4`$ to $`A(r)`$ and $`+\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}(3\nu 26)\nu \widehat{u}^3`$ to $`D(r)`$, and to add the simple quartic term (24) to the mass-shell condition (21). Note that the effective one-body dynamics is a “deformation” of a geodesic dynamics for a particle of mass $`\mu `$ in a Schwarzschild spacetime of mass $`M`$, with deformation parameter the symmetric mass ratio $`\nu =\mu /M=m_1m_2/(m_1+m_2)^2`$ ($`0<\nu \frac{1}{4}`$, with $`\nu `$ being small if $`m_1m_2`$ or $`m_2m_1`$, and reaching its maximal value of $`\frac{1}{4}`$ when $`m_1=m_2`$). Note also that, at this stage, we have not yet introduced any particular resummation technique. The effective quantities (22)–(24) are still given as straightforward $`PN`$ expansions in powers of $`\widehat{u}=GM/c^2r`$. However, this already means an appreciable gain over the original $`PN`$ expansions, Eqs. (4)–(7). Indeed, there are far less terms in the “effective” PN expansions and they generically have significantly smaller coefficients (which are now all multiplied by $`\nu <1/4`$). For instance, the “radial” potential determining the circular orbits is now fully encoded in the simple function $`g_{00}^{\mathrm{eff}}=A(r_{\mathrm{eff}})`$ which differs from the test-mass (Schwarzschild) result, $`A_{(\nu =\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})}=12\widehat{u}`$, only by two numerically smallish terms when one is above the last stable orbit. Indeed, when $`r_{\mathrm{eff}}>6GM/c^2`$, $`2\nu \widehat{u}^3<0.23\%`$ and $`a_4(\nu )\widehat{u}^4<0.36\%`$ (for $`\omega _s=0`$). When working at the 2 PN level it was, in fact, found unnecessary  to further “resum” the effective PN expansions of $`A(r)`$ and $`D(r)`$. As they stand, they led to small deviations from the test-mass ($`\nu 0`$) results. However, it was found in  that the situation is not quite as rosy at the 3 PN level. Because of the largish coefficient in Eq. (25), $`\frac{94}{3}\frac{41}{32}\pi ^218.688`$, the additional term $`+a_4(\nu )\widehat{u}^4`$ in Eq. (22) significantly modifies the qualitative behaviour of the metric coefficient $`A(r)`$ for $`r_{\mathrm{eff}}<6GM`$. In particular, when $`\omega _s=0`$, the straightforward PN-expanded function $`A(r)`$ no longer features a zero near $`r_{\mathrm{eff}}=2GM`$ for all possible values of the deformation parameter $`0<\nu \frac{1}{4}`$. As this zero (which corresponds to the Schwarzschild horizon) is a crucial qualitative feature of the $`\nu =0`$ limit, it was argued in  that one should Padé-resum the PN-expansion of $`A(r)`$ so as to ensure the stable presence of a similar “horizon” when $`0<\nu \frac{1}{4}`$. We shall also do so here, but only after having introduced the spin effects, which modify the radial function which is the analog of $`A(r)`$.

### B Effective spin

Let us now tackle the central task of this work: to introduce spin effects in the effective one-body approach. Let us first emphasize that the ambition of the present work is somewhat limited. Our main goal is to derive a spin-dependent EOB Hamiltonian which is physically reliable for small and moderate spins. We shall proceed toward this goal in successive steps. First, we consider only (at the lowest PN order where they enter) the interactions which are linear in the spins. Then, we shall incorporate (to some approximation) the interactions which are quadratic in the spins. Contrary to the case of the spin-independent interactions where many years of work have yielded high-PN-accuracy information which allowed one to refine and test the EOB approach, one does not have in hand enough information for gauging the reliability of the spin-dependent interactions in the case of fast spins. As a consequence, we will be able to trust the presently introduced EOB Hamiltonian only when spin effects are not too large. As we said in the Introduction, one will need new information (either from numerical relativity, or from improved analytical methods) to find a reliable form of the EOB Hamiltonian for large spins.

We have written down in Eq. (13) above the contribution to the real, PN-expanded, two-body Hamiltonian which is linear in the two spins. Our first proposal is to map this contribution to the spin-orbit coupling of a (spinless) effective particle moving in a suitably “spinning” effective metric, i.e. some type of generalized Kerr metric. If we formally consider $`𝑺_1`$ and $`𝑺_2`$ as deformation parameters (on top of the basic orbital deformation parameter $`\nu `$), the effective dynamics we are looking for should be a “spin deformation” of the currently most accurate orbital dynamics, as described by the 3 PN effective dynamics Eqs. (19)–(25). In particular, we should keep the non-geodesic Hamilton-Jacobi equation (21). Note that the spin effects (notably Eq. (13)) break the $`O(3)`$ symmetry of the orbital interaction. At the quantum level, this means that spin interactions lift the degeneracy ($`=`$ lack of dependence on the “magnetic” quantum number $`L_z/\mathrm{}`$) of the orbital energy states. This shows that the effective (co)metric $`g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{\alpha \beta }`$ entering Eq. (21) should no longer be spherically symmetric, but should contain special directions linked to the spins. For generality, let us first consider an arbitrary (time-independent) effective cometric

$$g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{\alpha \beta }p_\alpha p_\beta =g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{00}p_0^2+2g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{0i}p_0p_i+g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{ij}p_ip_j.$$
(26)
Let us define

$$\alpha (g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{00})^{1/2},\beta ^i\frac{g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{0i}}{g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{00}},\gamma ^{ij}g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{ij}\frac{g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{0i}g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{0j}}{g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{00}},$$
(27)
i.e.

$$g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{00}=\frac{1}{\alpha ^2},g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{0i}=\frac{\beta ^i}{\alpha ^2},g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{ij}=\gamma ^{ij}\frac{\beta ^i\beta ^j}{\alpha ^2}.$$
(28)
The effective energy $`E_{\mathrm{eff}}p_0^{\mathrm{eff}}`$ is conserved (because of the assumed stationarity of $`g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{\alpha \beta }`$). Using the parametrization (27), Eq. (21) reads

$$(E_{\mathrm{eff}}\beta ^ip_i)^2=\alpha ^2[\mu ^2+\gamma ^{ij}p_ip_j+Q_4(p)].$$
(29)
Solving Eq. (29) for $`E_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ (using the fact that $`Q_4(p)`$, Eq. (24), depends only on the $`p_i`$’s) yields the effective Hamiltonian

$$E_{\mathrm{eff}}=H_{\mathrm{eff}}(𝒙,𝒑,\mathrm{})=\beta ^ip_i+\alpha \sqrt{\mu ^2+\gamma ^{ij}p_ip_j+Q_4(p_i)},$$
(30)
where we have suppressed, for readability, the labels “eff” on the orbital phase space variables $`𝒙^{\mathrm{eff}}`$, $`𝒑^{\mathrm{eff}}`$. The ellipsis in the arguments of $`H_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ are added to remind us that $`H_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ will ultimately also depend on the spin variables $`𝑺_1`$, $`𝑺_2`$, which enter the metric coefficients $`\alpha `$, $`\beta ^i`$, $`\gamma ^{ij}`$ as parameters.

We also assume that Eq. (20) (which was found to hold at 1 PN, 2 PN and 3 PN) still holds. Solving it for the real energy $`E_{\mathrm{real}}`$ in terms of the effective one finally yields the real Hamiltonian

$$E_{\mathrm{real}}=H_{\mathrm{real}}(𝒙,𝒑,\mathrm{})=M\sqrt{1+2\nu \left(\frac{H_{\mathrm{eff}}\mu }{\mu }\right)}.$$
(31)
We recall that, at the linearized level and at the lowest PN order, the addition of a spin $`𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ onto an initially spherical symmetric metric leads to an off-diagonal term in the metric:

$$\beta ^ig^{0i}g_{0i}+\frac{2G}{r^3}\epsilon ^{ijk}S_{\mathrm{eff}}^jx^k.$$
(32)
Inserting this term in (30), and expanding (31) in a PN series yields, as leading spin-orbit coupling (linearized in $`S_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ and taken to formal order $`𝒪(1/c^2)`$) in $`H_{\mathrm{real}}`$, the term

$$\delta _{S_{\mathrm{eff}}}H_{\mathrm{real}}\beta ^ip_i\frac{2G}{c^2r^3}\epsilon ^{ijk}p_iS_{\mathrm{eff}}^jx^k.$$
(33)
This term can exactly reproduce the leading\**\**\**We use here the fact that the real phase-space coordinates $`𝒙^{\mathrm{real}}`$, $`𝒑^{\mathrm{real}}`$ differ only by $`𝒪(1/c^2)`$ from the effective ones entering $`H_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ . two-body spin-orbit coupling (13) if we define

$$𝑺^{\mathrm{eff}}\sigma _1𝑺_1+\sigma _2𝑺_2,$$
(34)
with

$$\sigma _11+\frac{3}{4}\frac{m_2}{m_1},\sigma _21+\frac{3}{4}\frac{m_1}{m_2}.$$
(35)
### C A deformed Kerr metric

Remembering that the main message of the effective one-body method is that the orbital dynamics of two comparable-mass black holes can be described in terms of a slightly deformed (with deformation parameter $`\nu `$) Schwarzschild metric, we expect that the orbital-plus-spin dynamics of two black holes can be described in terms of some deformation of the Kerr metric. In other words, we are expecting that not only the effects linear in the spins, such as Eq. (13), but also the spin-dependent non-linear effects, can be described in terms of some deformed, effective Kerr metric. At this stage it is therefore very natural to construct a suitable “deformed Kerr metric” which combines the orbital deformations (22), (23) with the full spin effects linked to the “effective spin” (34). After constructing this deformed Kerr metric, we shall a posteriori check that it approximately incorporates the expected two-body interactions which are quadratic in the spins.

Let us start from the simplest form of the Kerr cometric, underlying its separability properties

$`g_{\mathrm{Kerr}}^{\alpha \beta }p_\alpha p_\beta `$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^2+a^2\mathrm{cos}^2\theta }}`$ (36)
$`\times `$ $`\left[\mathrm{\Delta }_K(r)p_r^2+p_\theta ^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }}(p_\phi +a\mathrm{sin}^2\theta p_t)^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{\Delta }_K(r)}}((r^2+a^2)p_t+ap_\phi )^2\right],`$ (37)
with $`\mathrm{\Delta }_K(r)=r^22Mr+a^2`$. In the non-spinning limit $`(a0)`$ the coefficients of $`p_r^2`$ and $`p_t^2`$ become, respectively, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_K(r)/r^2`$ and $`r^2/\mathrm{\Delta }_K(r)`$. However, we know that in this limit we should get (from (19)) $`A(r)/D(r)`$ and $`1/A(r)`$, respectively. It is therefore very natural to generalize the Kerr metric (36) (while still keeping its separability properties) by assuming that the coefficients of the first and last terms in the square brackets of (36) involve two different functions of $`r`$, say $`\mathrm{\Delta }_r(r)`$ and $`1/\mathrm{\Delta }_t(r)`$, whose product reduces to $`1/D(r)`$ when $`a0`$. This reasoning leads us, as simplest††††††We leave untouched the dependence on $`a`$ to ensure that, when $`GM0`$ with $`a`$ being fixed, the metric $`g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{\alpha \beta }`$ be Minkowski in disguise. possibility for combining spin effects with orbital effects, to postulating that the effective metric entering (21) has the form

$`g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{\alpha \beta }p_\alpha p_\beta `$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^2+a^2\mathrm{cos}^2\theta }}`$ (38)
$`\times `$ $`\left[\mathrm{\Delta }_r(r)p_r^2+p_\theta ^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }}(p_\phi +a\mathrm{sin}^2\theta p_t)^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{\Delta }_t(r)}}((r^2+a^2)p_t+ap_\phi )^2\right],`$ (39)
with

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_r^{\mathrm{PN}}(r)=\frac{r^2A^{\mathrm{PN}}(r)+a^2}{D^{\mathrm{PN}}(r)},\mathrm{\Delta }_t^{\mathrm{PN}}(r)=r^2A^{\mathrm{PN}}(r)+a^2.$$
(40)
Here, the superscripts “PN” indicate that, at this stage, we are only comparing PN expansions. We already know from the 3 PN study of  that this is unsatisfactory because it tends to change the qualitative behaviour of the radial functions, and, in particular, the presence of a horizon in the metric (38). To get a regular horizon in Eq. (38) we need the two functions $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t(r)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_r(r)`$ to have a zero at the same value of $`r`$. The simplest (and most robust) way of ensuring this is (as discussed in ) to define them as

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_t(r)r^2P_3^1\left[A^{\mathrm{PN}}(r)+\frac{a^2}{r^2}\right],\mathrm{\Delta }_r(r)\mathrm{\Delta }_t(r)\left(\frac{1}{D(r)}\right)^{\mathrm{PN}}.$$
(41)
Here, $`P_m^n[f^{\mathrm{PN}}(u)]`$, with $`u1/r`$, denotes the $`N_n(u)/D_m(u)`$ Padé of a certain PN-expanded function $`f^{\mathrm{PN}}(u)=c_0+c_1u+c_2u^2+\mathrm{}+c_{n+m}u^{n+m}`$ ($`N_n(u)`$ and $`D_m(u)`$ being polynomials in $`u`$ of degrees $`n`$ and $`m`$, respectively). We do not write down the (uniquely defined) explicit expression of

$`\overline{A}(u)P_3^1[A^{\mathrm{PN}}(u)+a^2u^2]`$ $`=`$ $`P_3^1[12\widehat{u}+\widehat{a}^2\widehat{u}^2+2\nu \widehat{u}^3+a_4(\nu )\widehat{u}^4]`$ (42)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1+n_1\widehat{u}}{1+d_1\widehat{u}+d_2\widehat{u}^2+d_3\widehat{u}^3}}`$ (43)
(where $`\widehat{u}=GM/r`$, $`\widehat{a}=a/GM`$) because: (i) it is rather complicated and not illuminating, and (ii) modern algebraic manipulators compute it directly from its Padé definition.

In the definition of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_r(r)`$ (which is less important than that of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t(r)`$) we have factorized the Padéed $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t(r)`$ and assumed that it was enough to work with the non-resummed PN-expansion of the inverse of the $`D`$-function, i.e. (from (23))

$$(D^1(r))^{\mathrm{PN}}1+6\nu \widehat{u}^2+2(263\nu )\nu \widehat{u}^3.$$
(44)
If the need arises, it would be easy to define improved (resummed) versions of $`D^1(r)`$. Because of the positive coefficients in (44) the present definition does not interfere (as would the consideration of $`(D^{\mathrm{PN}}(r))^1`$) with the desired feature of having a simple zero in $`\mathrm{\Delta }_r(r)`$ located at the same value as that in $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t(r)`$.

Finally, we shall see later that there are some advantages in defining the quartic-in-momenta contribution $`Q_4(p)`$ in the following (deformed) way

$$Q_4(p)=\frac{1}{\mu ^2}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}(43\nu )\nu \frac{(GM)^2}{r^2+a^2\mathrm{cos}^2\theta }(𝒏𝒑)^4.$$
(45)
Eq. (38) defines $`g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{\alpha \beta }`$ only with respect to some (instantaneous) polar coordinate system with $`z`$-axis aligned with the effective spin (34). Such a coordinate system cannot be used for describing the evolution of two gravitationally interacting spinning black holes. Indeed, we expect (and shall check below) that the total real Hamiltonian imposes some type of precession motion for $`𝑺_1`$, $`𝑺_2`$ and therefore $`𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. To get the full dynamics of the system we need to rewrite $`g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{\alpha \beta }`$ in a general, cartesian-like coordinate system. This is achieved by explicitly introducing, besides $`n^ix^i/r`$, the quantities $`(S_{\mathrm{eff}}(\delta _{ab}S_{\mathrm{eff}}^aS_{\mathrm{eff}}^b)^{1/2})`$

$$s^i\frac{S_{\mathrm{eff}}^i}{S_{\mathrm{eff}}},a\frac{S_{\mathrm{eff}}}{M},\mathrm{cos}\theta n^is^i,\rho ^2r^2+a^2\mathrm{cos}^2\theta .$$
(46)
This leads to the following, cartesian-like, effective metric

$$\rho ^2g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{00}=\frac{(r^2+a^2)^2a^2\mathrm{\Delta }_t\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }{\mathrm{\Delta }_t},$$
(47)
$$\rho ^2g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{0i}=\frac{a[r^2+a^2\mathrm{\Delta }_t]}{\mathrm{\Delta }_t}(𝒔\times 𝒙)^i,$$
(48)
$$\rho ^2g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{ij}=\mathrm{\Delta }_rn^in^j+r^2(\delta ^{ij}n^in^j)\frac{a^2}{\mathrm{\Delta }_t}(𝒔\times 𝒙)^i(𝒔\times 𝒙)^j,$$
(49)
from which follows

$$\alpha =\sqrt{\frac{\rho ^2\mathrm{\Delta }_t}{(r^2+a^2)^2a^2\mathrm{\Delta }_t\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }},$$
(50)
$$\beta ^i=\frac{a[r^2+a^2\mathrm{\Delta }_t](𝒔\times 𝒙)^i}{(r^2+a^2)^2a^2\mathrm{\Delta }_t\mathrm{sin}^2\theta },$$
(51)
$$\gamma ^{ij}=g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{ij}+\frac{\beta ^i\beta ^j}{\alpha ^2}.$$
(52)
Note that near the “horizon”, i.e. as $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t0`$, the quantity $`\alpha `$ tends to zero like $`\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }_t}`$, while $`\beta ^i`$ and $`\gamma ^{ij}`$ have finite limits. \[The singular last term on the right-hand side of Eq. (49) is cancelled near the horizon by the contribution $`+\beta ^i\beta ^j/\alpha ^2`$ to $`\gamma ^{ij}`$, Eq. (52).\]

Finally, the spin-dependent, real two-body Hamiltonian $`H_{\mathrm{real}}(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_1,𝑺_2)`$ is defined by ($`\widehat{p}_ip_i/\mu `$, $`\widehat{u}_\rho GM/\sqrt{\rho ^2}`$, $`n^ix^i/r`$)

$`H_{\mathrm{real}}(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_1,𝑺_2)`$ (53)
$``$ $`M\sqrt{1+2\nu \left(\beta ^i\widehat{p}_i+\alpha \sqrt{1+\gamma ^{ij}\widehat{p}_i\widehat{p}_j+2(43\nu )\nu \widehat{u}_\rho ^2(n^i\widehat{p}_i)^4}1\right)},`$ (54)
where we recall that the basic effective Kerr spin vector is defined by

$$Mas^iS_{\mathrm{eff}}^i\sigma _1S_1^i+\sigma _2S_2^i,$$
(55)
with $`\sigma _1`$ and $`\sigma _2`$ defined in Eq. (35). The phase-space coordinates appearing in this Hamiltonian are the effective ones $`(x_{\mathrm{eff}}^i,p_i^{\mathrm{eff}})`$. They differ  by $`𝒪(1/c^2)`$ terms from the coordinates used in usual PN calculations, such as ADM ones. The evolution equations defined by the Hamiltonian (53) are obtained by the Poisson bracket equations (14)–(17). Before discussing them let us show how the Hamiltonian (53) contains spin-quadratic effects of the good sign and magnitude.

### D Effects quadratic in the spins

Note first that if we introduce the “non relativistic” effective Hamiltonian $`H_{\mathrm{eff}}^{\mathrm{NR}}H_{\mathrm{eff}}\mu c^2`$, and similarly $`H_{\mathrm{real}}^{\mathrm{NR}}H_{\mathrm{real}}Mc^2`$, one has

$$H_{\mathrm{eff}}^{\mathrm{NR}}=H_{\mathrm{real}}^{\mathrm{NR}}\left(1+\frac{1}{2}\frac{H_{\mathrm{real}}^{\mathrm{NR}}}{Mc^2}\right).$$
(56)
Therefore, if we are interested in the leading PN approximation to any additional term in $`H_{\mathrm{real}}^{\mathrm{PN}}`$, one can neglect the ($`𝒪(1/c^2)`$ smaller) difference between $`H_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ and $`H_{\mathrm{real}}`$. By this argument, the leading PN approximation to the term linear in the spins is

$$H_{\mathrm{real}S}H_{\mathrm{eff}S}\beta ^ip_i=\frac{a[r^2+a^2\mathrm{\Delta }_t]}{(r^2+a^2)^2a^2\mathrm{\Delta }_t\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }(𝒔\times 𝒙)^ip_i.$$
(57)
We write it explicitly in the form in which it appears in our Hamiltonian for the reader to see how the term (33) is generated. \[The important feature here being that $`r^2+a^2\mathrm{\Delta }_t2GMr`$ at the leading PN approximation.\]

Let us now consider the interaction terms in $`H_{\mathrm{real}}`$ or $`H_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ which are quadratic in the spins, and therefore quadratic in the Kerr-like parameter $`a`$, Eq. (55). First, one should remember that most terms of order $`a^2`$, as they appear in the effective metric (47)–(49), do not directly correspond to physical effects proportional to $`𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}^2`$. Indeed, we are using here Boyer-Lindquist-type coordinates which differ, even in the flat space limit $`GM0`$, from usual (flat-space, cartesian-like) coordinates by terms of order $`𝒪(a^2)`$. As we are interested in the leading PN effects quadratic in the spins, we can view the Kerr-like metric (47)–(49) as a deformation, by the $`a`$-dependent terms, of the Schwarzschild metric (which is the leading PN version of the orbital effective metric). We then expect that the leading physical effects quadratic $`a`$ will be those linked to the $`a`$-dependent quadrupole moment deformation of the Schwarzschild metric. The quadrupole moment of the Kerr metric (which coincides with our metric when we neglect additional 2 PN fractional corrections) has been determined to be

$$Q_{ij}=Ma^2s_is_j+\frac{1}{3}Ma^2\delta _{ij}.$$
(58)
This corresponds to an additional term in the interaction Hamiltonian equal to

$$H_Q^{\mathrm{real}}H_Q^{\mathrm{eff}}\frac{1}{2}\mu Q_{ij}_{ij}\frac{1}{r}=+\frac{1}{2}\mu Ma^2s^is^j_{ij}\frac{1}{r}.$$
(59)
In terms of the effective spin this reads (in standard units)

$$H_Q^{\mathrm{real}}+\frac{1}{2}\frac{G}{c^2}\frac{\mu }{M}S_{\mathrm{eff}}^iS_{\mathrm{eff}}^j_{ij}\frac{1}{r}.$$
(60)
Such is the prediction from our Hamiltonian. Let us now compare it to the expected real two-body, spin-quadratic effects. As sketched in Eq. (11) there are several sources of spin-quadratic effects. At leading PN order, it is enough to consider: (i) the term $`m_2S_1^2/m_1`$ which arises because of the interaction of the monopole $`m_2`$ with the spin-induced quadrupole moment of the spinning black hole of mass $`m_1`$, (ii) the term $`m_1S_2^2/m_2`$ obtained by exchanging $`12`$, and (iii) the term $`S_1S_2`$ coming from the direct, one-graviton interaction between the two spin-dipoles. The first term is obtained by relabelling the result (60) by $`\mu m_2`$, $`Mm_1`$, $`S_{\mathrm{eff}}^iS_1^i`$. Therefore the sum of (i) and (ii) reads

$$H_{S_1S_1}+H_{S_2S_2}+\frac{1}{2}\frac{G}{c^2}\left(\frac{m_2}{m_1}S_1^iS_1^j+\frac{m_1}{m_2}S_2^iS_2^j\right)_{ij}\frac{1}{r}.$$
(61)
The term (iii) has been computed in  and reads

$$H_{S_1S_2}+\frac{G}{c^2r^3}S_1^iS_2^j(3n^in^j\delta ^{ij})=+\frac{G}{c^2}S_1^iS_2^j_{ij}\frac{1}{r}.$$
(62)
It is easily checked that the sum of (61) and (62), say $`H_{SS}H_{S_1S_1}+H_{S_2S_2}+H_{S_1S_2}`$, can be written as

$$H_{SS}\frac{1}{2}\frac{G}{c^2}\frac{\mu }{M}S_0^iS_0^j_{ij}\frac{1}{r},$$
(63)
with $`S_0^i/Ma_0^ia_1^i+a_2^iS_1^i/m_1+S_2^i/m_2`$, i.e. explicitly,

$$S_0^i\left(1+\frac{m_2}{m_1}\right)S_1^i+\left(1+\frac{m_1}{m_2}\right)S_2^i.$$
(64)
The result (63), (64) is remarkably similar to the prediction (60) (with (34), (35)). The only discrepancy is a 25% difference in the coefficient of the mass ratios in the definition of the effective spin. Though there might be physical situations where this smallish difference might play a significant role, we think that in most cases where one will be entitled to trust the approximate spin-dependent EOB Hamiltonian introduced here this difference will not matter. Indeed, because of the partially ad hoc way in which we constructed our deformed Kerr metric, we cannot trust our predictions beyond the domain where spin effects are moderate corrections to orbital effects. However, it is useful to incorporate in a qualitatively correct manner the non-linear spin effects. This is what our prescription achieves. For instance: (i) in the limit where, say, $`m_2m_1`$ (and $`|𝑺_2|m_2^2`$) (60) and (63) become equivalent, or (ii) in the case where $`𝑺_1`$ and $`𝑺_2`$ are parallel (in the same direction), (60) and (63) differ only by a numerical factor which is near one for all mass ratios.

It might, however, be useful to define another Hamiltonian, say $`H_{\mathrm{real}}^{}`$, which: (a) reduces (like $`H_{\mathrm{real}}`$) to the Kerr one in the test-mass (and test-spin) limit, (b) contains (like $`H_{\mathrm{real}}`$) the spin-orbit terms (13), and (c) contains the exact spin-spin terms (63) (instead of their “25%” approximation (60) contained in $`H_{\mathrm{real}}`$). A simple way to do that is to define $`H_{\mathrm{real}}^{}M\sqrt{1+2\nu (H_{\mathrm{eff}}^{}\mu )/\mu }`$ with a modified effective Hamiltonian defined as the sum of (30), written with the replacement $`𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}𝑺_0`$, and of an additional spin-orbit interaction term, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\beta ^ip^i`$, with $`\mathrm{\Delta }\beta ^i`$ proportional to the difference $`\sigma ^iS_{\mathrm{eff}}^iS_0^i`$:

$$H_{\mathrm{eff}}^{}(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_1,𝑺_2)=H_{\mathrm{eff}}(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_0)+\mathrm{\Delta }H_{\mathrm{SO}}(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_0,𝝈),$$
(65)
where (denoting $`𝒂_0𝑺_0/M`$, $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _0n^iS_0^i/|𝑺_0|`$)

$$\mathrm{\Delta }H_{\mathrm{SO}}(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_0,𝝈)\frac{r^2+a_0^2\mathrm{\Delta }_t(a_0)}{(r^2+a_0^2)^2a_0^2\mathrm{\Delta }_t(a_0)\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _0}\frac{\epsilon ^{ijk}p_i\sigma ^jx^k}{M},$$
(66)
with

$$\sigma ^iS_{\mathrm{eff}}^iS_0^i\frac{1}{4}\left(\frac{m_2}{m_1}S_1^i+\frac{m_1}{m_2}S_2^i\right).$$
(67)
The consideration of the new Hamiltonian $`H_{\mathrm{real}}^{}`$ would considerably complicate (even at the qualitative level) the discussion of the following section. As we are not sure that this complication really entails a better quantitative description of spin effects, when these become important, we shall, in the following, content ourselves with studying the consequences of the simpler (though slightly less “accurate”) Hamiltonian $`H_{\mathrm{real}}`$, Eq. (53) with (55). However, we mention that it might be useful to consider simultaneously $`H_{\mathrm{real}}`$ and $`H_{\mathrm{real}}^{}`$, and to trust their predictions only in the cases where they differ only by a slight amount. This gives a useful measure of the domain of validity of the present spin-dependent effective-one-body approach.

## III Dynamics of two spinning black holes

### A Equations of motion and exact or approximate first integrals

In the previous section we have explicitly constructed an Hamiltonian $`H_{\mathrm{real}}(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_1,𝑺_2)`$ describing (to some approximation) the (conservative part of the) gravitational interaction of two spinning black holes in the center-of-mass frame of the binary system. In the present section, we shall describe some consequences of this Hamiltonian. Let us start by writing down explicitly the evolution equations for all the dynamical variables. From the basic PB’s (14)–(18) we get

$$\frac{dx^i}{dt}=\{x^i,H_{\mathrm{real}}\}=+\frac{H_{\mathrm{real}}}{p_i},$$
(68)
$$\frac{dp_i}{dt}=\{p_i,H_{\mathrm{real}}\}=\frac{H_{\mathrm{real}}}{x^i},$$
(69)
$$\frac{dS_1^i}{dt}=\{S_1^i,H_{\mathrm{real}}\}=\epsilon ^{ijk}\frac{H_{\mathrm{real}}}{S_1^j}S_1^k,$$
(70)
$$\frac{dS_2^i}{dt}=\{S_2^i,H_{\mathrm{real}}\}=\epsilon ^{ijk}\frac{H_{\mathrm{real}}}{S_2^j}S_2^k.$$
(71)
In vectorial notation, the spin evolution equations read (e.g. for the first spin)

$$\frac{d𝑺_1}{dt}=𝛀_1\times 𝑺_1,𝛀_1\frac{H_{\mathrm{real}}}{𝑺_1}.$$
(72)
A first consequence of these results is that the magnitudes of the two spins are exactly conserved:

$$𝑺_1^2=\mathrm{const}.,𝑺_2^2=\mathrm{const}.$$
(73)
Another general consequence is the exact conservation of the total angular momentum

$$𝑱𝑳+𝑺_1+𝑺_2,$$
(74)
where $`L^i\epsilon ^{ijk}x^jp_k`$. Indeed, it is easily checked that $`J^i`$ generates, by Poisson brackets, global rotations of all the vectorial dynamical quantities: $`\{J^i,V^j\}=\epsilon ^{ijk}V^k`$ for $`𝑽=𝒙`$, $`𝒑`$, $`𝑺_1`$ or $`𝑺_2`$. As the Hamiltonian is a scalar constructed out of $`𝒙`$, $`𝒑`$, $`𝑺_1`$ and $`𝑺_2`$, we have

$$\frac{d}{dt}J^i=\{J^i,H_{\mathrm{real}}\}=0.$$
(75)
Therefore

$$J^i=\mathrm{const},\text{and, in particular,}𝑱^2=\mathrm{const}.$$
(76)
Evidently, we have also the conservation of the total energy:

$$\frac{dH_{\mathrm{real}}}{dt}=\{H_{\mathrm{real}},H_{\mathrm{real}}\}=0H_{\mathrm{real}}=\mathrm{const}.$$
(77)
This closes the list of generic first integrals of the evolution. It should be noted that, in general, quantities such as $`𝑳^2`$ or $`𝑺_1𝑺_2`$ are not conserved in time. This means, in particular, that the magnitude of the effective spin, $`a^2=M^2𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}^2`$, will not stay constant during the evolution.

Evidently, in particular situations, more quantities might be approximately conserved. An interesting case is that in which the spins are small enough for one to retain only the terms linear in them. In this approximation

$$H_{\mathrm{eff}}(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_1,𝑺_2)H_0(𝒙,𝒑)+\frac{[r^2\mathrm{\Delta }_t^{(a=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})}]}{Mr^4}𝑳𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}},$$
(78)
where $`H_0(𝒙,𝒑)`$ is spherically symmetric.

Let us, more generally‡‡‡‡‡‡For instance, we can assume Eq. (78) for $`H_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, but make no further approximation in computing $`H_{\mathrm{real}}=f(H_{\mathrm{eff}})`$., assume that $`H_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, as well as $`H_{\mathrm{real}}`$, are spherically symmetric, functions of $`𝒙`$ and $`𝒑`$ except for a dependence on the combination $`𝑳𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}`$:

$$H_{\mathrm{real}}=H_{\mathrm{real}}(r,p_r,𝑳^2,𝑳𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}),$$
(79)
where $`p_rn^ip_i`$ is canonically conjugated to $`r`$ ($`\{r,p_r\}=1`$). Under the assumption (79) the angular momenta evolution equations become (with $`(\mathrm{LS})𝑳𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}`$)

$$\frac{d𝑺_1}{dt}=\frac{H_{\mathrm{real}}}{(\mathrm{LS})}\sigma _1𝑳\times 𝑺_1,$$
(80)
$$\frac{d𝑺_2}{dt}=\frac{H_{\mathrm{real}}}{(\mathrm{LS})}\sigma _2𝑳\times 𝑺_2,$$
(81)
$$\frac{d𝑳}{dt}=\frac{H_{\mathrm{real}}}{(\mathrm{LS})}𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}\times 𝑳.$$
(82)
These evolution equations imply not only (as in the general case) the conservation of $`𝑱=𝑳+𝑺_1+𝑺_2`$, and of $`𝑺_1^2`$ and $`𝑺_2^2`$, but also that of:

$$𝑳^2=\mathrm{const},𝑳𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}=\mathrm{const}.$$
(83)
Note, however, that $`𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}^2`$ is not conserved. Moreover, the radial motion is governed by the equations

$$\dot{r}=\frac{H_{\mathrm{real}}(r,p_r,𝑳^2,𝑳𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}})}{p_r},$$
(84)
$$\dot{p}_r=\frac{H_{\mathrm{real}}(r,p_r,𝑳^2,𝑳𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}})}{r}.$$
(85)
In view of the constancy of $`𝑳^2=C_0`$ and $`𝑳𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}=C_1`$, we see from these equations that the function of $`r`$ and $`p_r`$, $`H_{\mathrm{rad}}(r,p_r)=H_{\mathrm{real}}(r,p_r,C_0,C_1)`$, defines a reduced Hamiltonian describing the radial motion, separately from the angular degrees of freedom. In particular, we see (using the fact that $`p_r`$ enters at least quadratically in $`H_{\mathrm{real}}`$) that, under our current (approximate) assumption (79), there exists a class of spherical orbits, i.e. of orbits satisfying

$$r=\mathrm{const},p_r=0,\frac{H_{\mathrm{real}}(r,p_r=0,𝑳^2,𝑳𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}})}{r}=0.$$
(86)
Because of the (possibly non-linear) spin-orbit coupling, i.e. the dependence of $`H_{\mathrm{real}}`$ on $`𝑳𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, the orbital plane of these “spherical” orbits is not fixed in space. But the radial coordinate $`r`$ being constant, these orbits trace a complicated path on a sphere (hence the name). These orbits are the analogs, in our two-body problem, and in the approximation (79), of similar exact “spherical” orbits for the geodesic motion of test particles in a Kerr spacetime . Their existence (under some approximation) in the two-body problem is interesting for the following reason. One expects most black hole binary sources of interest for the LIGO/VIRGO/GEO network to have had the time to relax, under radiation reaction, to circular orbits. When the two black holes will get closer, these circular orbits will adiabatically shrink until they come close enough for feeling the effect of the spin-orbit coupling (which varies $`r^3`$). In some intermediate domain where the spin-orbit coupling is significant, but couplings quadratic in the spins are still small, the initially circular orbit will evolve into an adiabatic sequence of “spherical” orbits of the type just discussed. \[We are here adding by hand the effect of radiation reaction, treated as an adiabatic perturbation of the conservative dynamics discussed in this paper.\] These considerations indicate that, in first approximation, the total amount of gravitational radiation emitted by coalescing spinning black holes will be determined by the binding energy of the Last Stable Spherical Orbit (LSSO), i.e. the last stable solution of Eqs. (86), which will satisfy

$$\frac{H_{\mathrm{real}}}{r}(r,p_r=0,𝑳^2,𝑳𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}})=0,\frac{^2H_{\mathrm{real}}}{r^2}(r,p_r=0,𝑳^2,𝑳𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}})=0.$$
(87)
Before studying the energetics of these LSSO’s let us mention the existence of other approximate first integrals in the dynamics of binary spinning black holes. Let us keep all the terms non-linear in $`𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, i.e. the full expression of $`H_{\mathrm{real}}(𝒙,𝒑,𝑺_1,𝑺_2)`$, but let us try to approximately decouple the orbital motion from the spin degrees of freedom by considering that the two spin vectors evolve adiabatically (i.e. slowly on the orbital time scale), through Eqs. (70), (71). In this adiabatic-spin approximation, the orbital motion is described by the Hamilton-Jacobi equation (21), with an adiabatically fixed effective metric $`g_{\mathrm{eff}}^{\alpha \beta }`$. With the definition (45) of the quadratic-in-momenta term $`Q_4(p)`$, one can check that, in this approximation, there will exist a two-body analog of the Carter constant for geodesic motion in Kerr . Indeed, we have constructed our deformed Kerr metric (38) so as to respect its separability properties. Let us work in an (adiabatic) Boyer-Lindquist-type coordinate system $`(t,r,\theta ,\phi )`$, as in Eq. (38). We find that the separability of the effective Hamilton-Jacobi equation yields the following first integrals (of the effective Hamiltonian)

$$p_t=E_{\mathrm{eff}},p_\phi =L_z,$$
(88)
$$p_\theta ^2+\frac{(L_zaE_{\mathrm{eff}}\mathrm{sin}^2\theta )^2}{\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }+\mu ^2a^2\mathrm{cos}^2\theta =𝒦𝒬+(L_zaE_{\mathrm{eff}})^2,$$
(89)
$$p_\theta ^2+\mathrm{cos}^2\theta \left[\frac{L_z^2}{\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }+a^2(\mu ^2E_{\mathrm{eff}}^2)\right]=𝒬𝒦(L_zaE_{\mathrm{eff}})^2.$$
(90)
The last two equations are equivalent to each other, but, depending on the context, one can be more convenient than the other. Let us note the connection of the first integrals (88)–(90) with the above analysis of the first integrals of the Hamiltonian depending only on the combination $`𝑳𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. The conservation of $`L_z`$, Eq. (88), corresponds to the conservation of $`𝑳𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, Eq. (83), while the conservation of $`𝒦`$ or $`𝒬`$ corresponds to the conservation of $`𝑳^2`$. Indeed, if we neglect the terms $`a^2`$ in (90) we get

$$𝒬p_\theta ^2+L_z^2\frac{1\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }{\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }=𝑳^2L_z^2.$$
(91)
This suggests that, even beyond the adiabatic-spin approximation, the quantities, now defined in an arbitrary frame as

$$L_z𝑳𝒔,𝒬𝑳^2(𝑳𝒔)^2+a^2(𝒏𝒔)^2(\mu ^2E_{\mathrm{eff}}^2),$$
(92)
will be (as well as $`𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}^2`$ and $`𝒦𝒬+(L_zaE_{\mathrm{eff}})^2`$) conserved to a good approximation. We are mentionning here these approximate conservation laws because they could be helpful in qualitatively understanding the full two-body dynamics.

### B Spherical orbits and last stable spherical orbits

We discussed above the existence of spherical orbits under the assumption (or the approximation) that $`H_{\mathrm{real}}`$ depend only on the “spin-orbit” combination $`𝑳𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ (as it does at the linear-in-spin level). More generally, we have seen that if we treat the evolution of the spins as being adiabatic, we have the (approximate) first integrals (92). If we use (as a heuristic mean of studying the main features of the orbital dynamics) this adiabatic approximation, we can define a family of spherical orbits by drawing on the conservation of the quantities (92). Indeed, inserting the definitions (92) into Eq. (21) we get an equation controlling the radial motion:

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_rp_r^2+2(43\nu )\nu (GM)^2p_r^4/\mu ^2=`$ (93)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{\Delta }_t(r)}}[(r^2+a^2)E_{\mathrm{eff}}aL_z]^2(\mu ^2r^2+𝒬+(L_zaE_{\mathrm{eff}})^2).`$ (94)
The right-hand-side of Eq. (93) defines (when, $`a^2=𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}^2/M^2`$, $`L_z`$ and $`𝒬`$ are considered as adiabatic constants) a radial potential whose local minima, in $`r`$, determine (adiabatic) spherical orbits. The last stable spherical orbit is obtained when this radial potential has an inflection point. More precisely let us define

$$R(r,E_{\mathrm{eff}},L_z,𝒬)((r^2+a^2)E_{\mathrm{eff}}aL_z)^2\mathrm{\Delta }_t(r)(\mu ^2r^2+𝒬+(L_zaE)^2).$$
(95)
The spherical orbits are the solutions of

$$R(r,E_{\mathrm{eff}},L_z,𝒬)=\frac{}{r}R(r,E_{\mathrm{eff}},L_z,𝒬)=0.$$
(96)
The solutions of Eq. (96) yield a two-parameter family of solutions, along which, for instance, $`r`$ and $`E_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ are functions of $`L_z`$ and $`𝒬`$. The last stable spherical orbit (LSSO) along such a family of solutions must satisfy the three equations

$$R(r,E_{\mathrm{eff}},L_z,𝒬)=\frac{}{r}R(r,E_{\mathrm{eff}},L_z,𝒬)=\frac{^2}{r^2}R(r,E_{\mathrm{eff}},L_z,𝒬)=0.$$
(97)
There is a one-parameter family of LSSO’s. For instance, one can take as free parameter the dimensionless ratio $`𝒬/L_z^2`$ which is a measure of the maximum angle between the orbital plane and the equatorial plane defined by $`𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. \[Note that $`𝒬=0`$ for an orbit in the equatorial plane.\] For each value of this angle, and for each value of the effective spin parameter $`a`$, there will be some LSSO, with particular values of $`r`$, $`E_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ and $`L_z`$.

To study the values of the (effective and real) binding energy, and of the orbital angular momentum along this one-parameter family of LSSO’s, it is convenient to work with slightly different variables. Let us introduce

$$\overline{L}_zL_zaE_{\mathrm{eff}},𝒦𝒬+\overline{L}_z^2.$$
(98)
Let us also work with the radial variable $`u1/r`$ and denote

$$\overline{A}(u)\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_t(r)}{r^2}P_3^1[A_{\mathrm{orb}}^{\mathrm{PN}}(u)+a^2u^2].$$
(99)
We have

$$r^4R(r)U(u)(E_{\mathrm{eff}}a\overline{L}_zu^2)^2\overline{A}(u)(\mu ^2+𝒦u^2).$$
(100)
The equation $`U(u)=0`$ (i.e. $`R(r)=0`$) is now solved as

$$E_{\mathrm{eff}}=W_a(u,\overline{L}_z,𝒦)a\overline{L}_zu^2+\sqrt{\overline{A}(u)(\mu ^2+𝒦u^2)}.$$
(101)
The two-parameter family of spherical orbits is now obtained (as functions of the parameters $`\overline{L}_z`$ and $`𝒦`$) by solving $`W/u=0`$, while the one-parameter family of LSSO’s is obtained by solving $`W/u=^2W/u^2=0`$. The advantage of this formulation is that it exhibits in the simplest way the analogy with the effective radial potential discussed in  for the pure (3 PN) orbital motion (without spin), namely

$$W_0(u,L)\sqrt{A(u)(\mu ^2+L^2u^2)},$$
(102)
with $`A(u)P_3^1[A_{\mathrm{orb}}^{\mathrm{PN}}(u)]`$. Apart from the replacement $`L^2𝒦`$, the only two differences between the spinning case ((101)) and the spinless one ((102)) is the addition of the spin-orbit energy term $`+a\overline{L}_zu^2`$, and the additional $`a^2u^2`$ term in the PN expansion of $`\overline{A}(u)`$. \[Note that $`\overline{A}(u)A(u)+a^2u^2`$ because the Padéeing is done after the addition of $`a^2u^2`$.\] We have chosen to parametrize $`W_a(u)`$ in terms of $`\overline{L}_z`$ and $`𝒦`$ because it simplifies very much its expression and thereby renders more transparent the new physics incorporated in our effective one-body approach. The fact that $`\overline{L}_z`$ depends both on $`L_z`$ and $`E_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ is not a problem for solving Eq. (100) for $`E_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. Indeed, we are discussing a continuous family of solutions and it is essentially indifferent to parametrize them in terms of $`L_z`$ or $`\overline{L}_z`$. We could have introduced another effective potential $`W_a^{}(r,L_z,𝒬)`$ by solving $`R(r,E_{\mathrm{eff}},L_z,𝒬)=0`$, with Eq. (95), which would be more complicated, but which would describe the same physics. \[Note that $`W_a^{}(r)`$ would directly exhibit the correct fact that the spin-orbit energy, for given $`L_z`$, decreases like $`r^3`$, while this fact is hidden in $`W_a(u)`$ which assumes that $`\overline{L}_z=L_zaE_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ is given.\]

### C Binding energy of last stable spherical orbits

To get a first idea of the physical consequences of our effective one-body description of coalescing spinning black holes we have numerically investigated the properties of the one-parameter family of LSSO’s. The most important quantity we are interested in is the binding energy at the last stable spherical orbit because it is the prime quantity determining the detectability of the GW emitted during the inspiral. We recall that the real, two-body energy is related to the effective energy entering the equations of the previous subsection through

$$E_{\mathrm{real}}=M\sqrt{1+2\nu \left(\frac{E_{\mathrm{eff}}}{\mu }1\right)}.$$
(103)
We are mostly interested in the (dimensionless) binding energy per unit total mass, say

$$e\frac{E_{\mathrm{real}}M}{M}=\sqrt{1+2\nu \left(\frac{E_{\mathrm{eff}}}{\mu }1\right)}1.$$
(104)
The value of $`e`$ at the LSSO depends on three dimensionless parameters

$$\nu _44\frac{\mu }{M}4\nu ,\widehat{a}\frac{a}{M}\frac{|𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}|}{M^2},\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}\frac{\overline{L}_z}{\sqrt{𝒦}}.$$
(105)
Here, the parameter $`\nu _4`$ (renormalized so that $`0<\nu _41`$) determines the effect of having comparable masses ($`\nu _41`$) rather than a large mass hierarchy ($`\nu _41`$). The dependence of $`e^{\mathrm{LSO}}`$ on $`\nu _4`$ in absence of spins was studied in . It was found that the ratio $`e^{\mathrm{LSO}}/\nu _4`$ was essentially linear in $`\nu _4`$ (even for $`\nu _4`$ as large as 1, corresponding to the equal-mass case)

$$e_{S_{\mathrm{eff}}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}}^{\mathrm{LSO}}0.014298\nu _4(1+c_1\nu _4).$$
(106)
Here, the numerical value $`1.4298\%=\frac{1}{4}\left(\sqrt{\frac{8}{9}}1\right)`$ is one fourth the specific binding LSO energy of a test particle in Schwarzschild. The numerical coefficient $`c_1`$ which condenses the effect of resummed PN interactions was found to have a value $`c_1^{2\mathrm{PN}}0.048`$ at 2 PN and $`c_1^{3\mathrm{PN}}(\omega _s=0)0.168`$ at 3 PN, and for $`\omega _s=0`$. \[The dependence of $`c_1^{3\mathrm{PN}}`$ on $`\omega _s`$ is also roughly linear: $`c_1^{3\mathrm{PN}}(\omega _s)0.168+0.0126\omega _s`$, at least when $`\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}<\omega _s<\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$.\]

We expect that the dependence on $`\nu _4`$ of the spin-dependent effects will also be roughly linear (after factorization of an overall factor $`\nu _4`$ which comes from expanding the square root in Eq. (104)). In the following we shall generally consider (in our numerical investigations) the case $`\nu _4=1`$, and concentrate on the dependence on the other parameters.

Let us clarify the meaning of the parameters $`\widehat{a}`$ and $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}`$ introduced in Eq. (105). The quantities $`𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, $`\overline{L}_z`$ and $`𝒦`$ entering these definitions are all supposed to be computed at the last stable spherical orbit of an adiabatic sequence of spherical orbits (in the sense discussed above). Physically, we have in mind the sequence of inspiralling orbits driven by radiation reaction. Technically, we define $`e(\nu _4,\widehat{a},\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}})`$ by solving the effective radial potential problem defined in the previous subsection. We are aware of the fact that we cannot really attach to $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}`$ the meaning of being the cosinus between $`𝑳`$ and $`𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ (as the name would suggest), but this is not important. What is important is that there is indeed a physical degree of freedom related to the misalignment between $`𝑳`$ and $`𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ at the LSSO and that we measure it by a parameter normalized so that $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}=1`$ (or $`1`$) when all angular momenta are aligned (in this limit the concept of last stable circular equatorial orbit is meaningful and coincides with the $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}=1`$ (or $`1`$) limit of our formal definitions).

Note that, with the definitions (105) and the additional definition $`\overline{\mathrm{}}(𝒦)^{1/2}/GM\mu `$, the effective radial potential (101) yields (in dimensionless form, $`\widehat{u}GM/r`$)

$$\frac{E_{\mathrm{eff}}}{\mu }=\widehat{W}_{\widehat{a}}(\widehat{u},\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}},\overline{\mathrm{}})=\widehat{a}\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}\overline{\mathrm{}}\widehat{u}^2+\sqrt{\overline{A}(\widehat{u},\widehat{a}^2)(1+\overline{\mathrm{}}^2\widehat{u}^2)}.$$
(107)
This form makes it clear that $`E_{\mathrm{eff}}^{\mathrm{LSSO}}/\mu `$, and therefore $`e^{\mathrm{LSSO}}`$, Eq. (104), will depend primarily on the combination (“projected value of $`\widehat{a}`$”)

$$\widehat{a}_p\widehat{a}\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}\frac{𝒌𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}}{M^2}$$
(108)
where $`𝒌=𝑳/|𝑳|`$ (at the LSSO). For smallish spins, the combination $`\widehat{a}_p`$ is the only one entering the problem linearly. As recalled by the notation in (107) the non-projected value of $`\widehat{a}`$ enters only quadratically in $`\overline{A}(\widehat{u},\widehat{a}^2)`$.

Let us consider more closely the crucial quantity

$`\widehat{a}_p`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(m_1+m_2)^2}}\left[\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{m_2}{m_1}}\right)𝒌𝑺_1+\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{m_1}{m_2}}\right)𝒌𝑺_2\right]`$ (109)
$`=`$ $`\left(X_1^2+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}X_1X_2\right)𝒌\widehat{𝒂}_1+\left(X_2^2+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}X_1X_2\right)𝒌\widehat{𝒂}_2.`$ (110)
In the second form, we have defined $`X_1m_1/M`$, $`X_2m_2/M`$ ($`X_1+X_2=1`$, $`X_1X_2=\nu `$) and $`\widehat{𝒂}_1𝑺_1/m_1^2`$, $`\widehat{𝒂}_2𝑺_2/m_2^2`$. \[We recall that a maximally spinning hole would have $`|\widehat{𝒂}_1|=1`$.\]

An important question (for the relevance of the present work) is: what are the plausible values of $`\widehat{a}_p`$ in the sources that will be detected by LIGO/VIRGO/GEO? Present astrophysical ideas about the formation of binary black holes  suggest neither that the holes be typically maximally spinning, nor that there be any correlation between the spin and angular momenta, i.e. between the directions of $`𝒌`$, $`𝑺_1`$ and $`𝑺_2`$. Not much is known either about the probable value of the mass ratio. To have an idea of the plausible values of $`\widehat{a}_p`$ (which is an algebraic quantity which can take positive or negative values) let us consider the random mean square (rms) value of $`\widehat{a}_p`$ under the assumption of random, uncorrelated directions $`𝒌`$, $`𝑺_1`$ and $`𝑺_2`$ (so that $`\widehat{a}_p=0`$). Let us assume (for simplicity) that $`m_1=m_2`$, i.e. $`\nu _4=1`$, which is the most favourable case because $`e^{\mathrm{LSSO}}\nu _4`$. We assume also that $`\widehat{𝒂}_1^2=\widehat{𝒂}_2^2(a_1^{\mathrm{rms}})^2`$ is some given quantity (to be determined by astrophysical models). This yields for $`\widehat{a}_p^{\mathrm{rms}}\sqrt{\widehat{a}_p^2}`$

$$\widehat{a}_p^{\mathrm{rms}}=\frac{7}{16}\frac{\sqrt{2}}{\sqrt{3}}a_1^{\mathrm{rms}}=0.357a_1^{\mathrm{rms}}.$$
(111)
Even if $`\widehat{a}_1^{\mathrm{rms}}=1`$ (which would mean that all black holes are maximally spinning) we get $`\widehat{a}_p^{\mathrm{rms}}=0.357`$. However, we find it highly plausible that $`\widehat{a}_1^{\mathrm{rms}}`$ will be significantly smaller than 1. For instance, if we optimistically assume a uniform distribution of spin kinetic energy between 0 and the maximal value we would get $`\widehat{a}_1^{\mathrm{rms}}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}`$ and therefore $`\widehat{a}_p^{\mathrm{rms}}=7/(16\sqrt{3})=0.253`$. In view of these arguments, we find plausible that most LIGO/VIRGO binary black hole sources will have $`|\widehat{a}_p|<\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.3}`$. This consideration is important because we shall see later that for such smallish values of $`\widehat{a}_p`$ the simple analytical approach advocated here seems to be quite reliable. However, one should also be able to compute physically reliable (or, at least, sufficiently flexible) templates for fast spinning binary black holes. As we said in the Introduction, we think that the EOB approach can be an essential tool for this purpose, in conjunction with numerical data, by feeding the (necessarily sparse) numerical data into some multi-parameter version of the EOB Hamiltonian.

This statistical estimate of the plausible value of $`a_p`$ suggests that a typical value of $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}𝒌𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}/|𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}|`$ is around $`\pm \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}/\sqrt{3}`$. In our numerical estimates of $`e^{\mathrm{LSSO}}`$ we have used this value, as well as the (implausible) value $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}=\pm \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}`$ corresponding to perfect alignment. As a first step towards exploring the “parametric flexibility” of the EOB approach, we have studied the dependence of $`e^{\mathrm{LSSO}}`$ on the value of the parameter $`\omega _s`$, as it appears in Eq. (25). We have done numerical simulations for three fiducial values: $`\omega _s=0\omega ^{\mathrm{DJS}}`$ , $`\omega _s=1987/840\omega _s^{\mathrm{BF}}`$ \**\**\**This value corresponds to taking $`\lambda =0`$ in $`\omega _s=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}11}\lambda /31987/840`$. Here, $`\lambda `$ denotes the natural ambiguity parameter entering the Blanchet-Faye framework. Note that the authors of Refs.  do not claim that $`\lambda =0`$ is a preferred value. However, as $`\lambda `$ is expected to be of order unity we use $`\lambda =0`$, i.e. $`\omega _s=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1987}/840`$ as a fiducial deviation from $`\omega _s=0`$., and also for $`\omega _s=\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{94}{3}\frac{41\pi ^2}{32}\right)\omega _s^{}`$. Note the numerical values: $`\omega _s^{\mathrm{BF}}2.3655`$, $`\omega _s^{}9.3439`$. The original motivation (when writing this paper, before the completion of the work  which determined the correct value of $`\omega _s`$) was to study the sensitivity of our results to the “3PN ambiguity”. We kept it here as an interesting case study of the sensitivity of EOB results to modifications of the various coefficients entering the EOB Hamiltonian. The change from $`\omega _s=0`$ to $`\omega _s=\omega _s^{\mathrm{BF}}`$ corresponds to a change of the coefficient $`a_4a_4(\nu )/\nu `$ from $`18.688`$ to $`13.957`$, i.e. a fractional change of $`25.32\%`$. The value $`\omega _s=\omega _s^{}`$ has the effect of completely cancelling the 3 PN contribution to the radial functions $`A(u)`$ and $`\overline{A}(u)`$. Therefore, choosing $`\omega _s=\omega _s^{}`$ gives for the LSSO quantities the same results as the 2 PN effective-one-body Hamiltonian . Its consideration is useful for exhibiting the difference between the 2 PN-based results and the 3 PN-based ones. Our results are displayed in Table II and Fig. 1.

The most important conclusion we wish to draw from these results is that, when $`\widehat{a}<\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.3}`$ (which, as we argued above, covers a large domain of the physically relevant cases), the binding energy at the LSSO seems to be reliably describable by the simple analytical EOB Hamiltonian defined above. Indeed, the differences between: (i) the non-spinning case and the spinning ones, and (ii) the 2 PN orbital approximation and the 3 PN one, are all quite moderate (which indicates that the effective one-body approach is effective in resumming PN interactions near the LSO). Furthermore, the difference between: (iii) the spinning 3 PN case with $`\omega _s=0=\omega _s^{\mathrm{DJS}}`$ , and the same case with $`\omega _s=\omega _s^{\mathrm{BF}}`$  is rather small. This is a testimony of the robustness of the EOB approach. A change of its 3PN coefficient by $`25\%`$ does not affect much the physical predictions. This robustness at the 3PN level is indicative of some robustness against the addition of higher PN effects. Note also (from table II) the confirmation that when $`|\widehat{a}_p|<\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.2}`$, the binding energy at the LSSO depends nearly only on the projected effective spin parameter $`\widehat{a}_p=\widehat{a}\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}`$, with a very weak dependence on the value of $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}`$.

On the other hand, it must be admitted that when, say, $`\widehat{a}>\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.4}`$ the differences between the three cases (i), (ii), (iii) become so large, and the radius of the LSSO becomes so small, that the present spin-dependent EOB predictions cannot be quantitatively trusted. \[However, as discussed in more detail below, we think that they remain qualitatively correct.\] If the orbital dynamics were well described by the 2 PN-level orbital EOB metric (i.e. if $`\omega _s`$ had been near $`9`$; see upper curve in Fig. 1), the binding energy, even in such extreme cases, would differ only moderately from the non-spinning case, and we could trust the EOB-plus-spin predictions. However, as $`\omega _s`$ is zero the 3 PN EOB $`+`$ spin predictions become, for $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}1`$ and $`a>\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.4}`$, very different from the 2 PN ones and quite sensitive to the numerical values of the expansion coefficients entering the EOB potentials. Let us note, however, that in all cases (even the most extremely spinning ones) if the spin parameter $`\widehat{a}_p`$ is negative (i.e. if the effective spin vector, whatever be its magnitude, has a negative projection on the orbital angular momentum) the EOB predictions become extremely reliable because all the differences between the cases (i), (ii), (iii) become quite small.

All these results are easy to interpret physically. This can be seen from the basic equations of the EOB approach which simplify so much the description of the physical interactions by representing them as slightly deformed versions of the well-known gravitational physics of test particles in Schwarzschild or Kerr geometries. Indeed, the basic equation of the EOB approach determining the binding of the LSO is Eq. (107) which differs from its well-known\*†\*†\*†Actually, as far as we know, the Kerr limit of Eq. (107) has never been written down before. Usual treatments  use the more complicated effective radial potential $`W_a^{}(r,L_z,𝒬)`$. Anyway, the physics is the same, but it is more cleanly presented in (107). Kerr limit (i.e. $`\nu 0`$) only by the change

$$A_K(\widehat{u},\widehat{a}^2)=12\widehat{u}+\widehat{a}^2\widehat{u}^2\overline{A}(\widehat{u},\widehat{a}^2)=P_3^1[12\widehat{u}+\widehat{a}^2\widehat{u}^2+2\nu \widehat{u}^3+a_4(\nu )\widehat{u}^4].$$
(112)
The crucial point (which is, finally, the most important new information obtained by the 2 PN and 3 PN orbital calculations) is that the 2 PN and 3 PN additional terms to the radial function $`A_{a=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}}^{\mathrm{PN}}(\widehat{u})`$ have both positive coefficients. This means that, even before the addition of the effect of spin (which leads to a $`+\widehat{a}^2\widehat{u}^2`$ additional term in $`A_K(\widehat{u})`$, corresponding to the famous $`+a^2`$ term in $`\mathrm{\Delta }_K(r)=r^22Mr+a^2`$) the main effect of non-linear orbital interactions for comparable masses is “repulsive”, i.e. correspond to a partial screening of the basic Schwarzschild attractive term $`12\widehat{u}=12GM/c^2r`$ by the addition of repulsive terms $`+\nu /r^3`$ and $`+\nu /r^4`$. Now, paradoxically, the addition of a repulsive term leads to a more tightly bound LSSO because the less attractive, but still attractive\*‡\*‡\*‡Remember that we Padé resum $`A(\widehat{u})`$ and $`\overline{A}(\widehat{u})`$ to ensure that these functions qualitatively behave like $`12\widehat{u}`$ or $`12\widehat{u}+\widehat{a}^2\widehat{u}^2`$ (for $`\widehat{a}^2<1`$), i.e. (generically) have a simple zero near $`\widehat{r}=\widehat{u}^1=1+\sqrt{1\widehat{a}^2}`$, which means that the effective metric becomes “infinitely attractive” at some deformed horizon., radial function $`A(\widehat{u},\widehat{a}^2=0)`$ will be able to “hold” a particle in spherical orbit down to a lower orbit. In other words, when a radial potential becomes less attractive, its LSSO gets closer to the horizon, and the binding energy of the LSSO becomes more negative. This being said, one understands immediately the additional effects due to the spin interaction. There are basically two such effects: (a) a linear “spin-orbit” effect linked to the $`+\widehat{a}_p\overline{\mathrm{}}\widehat{u}^2`$ term in (107) (with $`\widehat{a}_p\widehat{a}\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}`$), and (b) a non-linear spin-quadratic modification of the metric coefficient, i.e. the additional $`+\widehat{a}^2\widehat{u}^2`$ term in $`\overline{A}(\widehat{u},\widehat{a}^2)`$ (or in $`A_K(\widehat{u})=12\widehat{u}+\widehat{a}^2\widehat{u}^2`$). The crucial points are that: (1) when $`\widehat{a}_p<0`$, i.e. $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}<0`$ (coarse antialignment of angular momenta) the dominant linear spin-orbit coupling is attractive and therefore pushes the LSSO upwards, towards a less bound orbit, while, (2) when $`\widehat{a}_p>0`$, i.e. $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}>0`$ (coarse alignment of angular momenta) both the linear spin-orbit coupling $`+\widehat{a}_p\overline{\mathrm{}}\widehat{u}^2`$ and the spin-quadratic additional term $`+\widehat{a}^2\widehat{u}^2`$ are repulsive and tend to draw the LSSO downwards, i.e. closer to the horizon, in a more bound orbit. Therefore we see that, when $`\widehat{a}_p>0`$, all the new effects (the $`\nu `$-dependent non-linear orbital interactions and the spin effects) tend in the same direction: towards a closer, more bound orbit. As the existence of a LSSO is due to a delicate balance between the attractive gravitational effects and the usual repulsive (“centrifugal”) effect of the orbital angular momentum (i.e. the term $`+\overline{\mathrm{}}^2\widehat{u}^2+L^2/r^2`$ in (107)), when several attractive effects combine their action, they start having a large effect on the binding of the LSSO. This is well-known to be the case for circular, equatorial, corotating $`(\widehat{a}_p=+\widehat{a})`$ orbits of a test particle in Kerr, which feature, in the case of an extreme Kerr $`(\widehat{a}=1)`$ an LSO at $`\widehat{r}=1`$, with $`\mu `$-fractional binding $`(E_{\mathrm{eff}}\mu )/\mu =1/\sqrt{3}1=0.42265`$ (corresponding to $`e\nu (E_{\mathrm{eff}}\mu )/\mu 0.10566\nu _4`$). It is also well-known that, again for extreme Kerr, a counterrotating $`(\widehat{a}_p=\widehat{a})`$ circular, equatorial orbit in extreme Kerr has an LSO at $`\widehat{r}=9`$, with $`\mu `$-fractional binding $`(E_{\mathrm{eff}}\mu )/\mu =5/(3\sqrt{3})1=0.037750`$ (corresponding to $`e0.0094374\nu _4`$). What is less well-known is that the extreme binding of the circular, equatorial, corotating LSO around an extreme Kerr is not representative of the binding of typical LSSO’s around typical (or even extreme) Kerr holes. Indeed, when $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}\pm \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}`$ (i.e. in more invariant language, when $`𝒬0`$) and when $`\widehat{a}<1`$, the LSSO is, in general, moderately perturbed away from the Schwarzschild value $`\widehat{r}_{\mathrm{LSO}}=6`$ and its binding is correspondingly moderately different from its Schwarzschild limit $`e_{\mathrm{Schw}}^{\mathrm{LSO}}0.014298\nu _4`$. The present work has shown that the location of the LSSO’s for binary spinning holes can be rather simply obtained, in the EOB approach, by balancing in the specific way of Eq. (107) the centrifugal effect of the orbital angular momentum against the overall attractive effect of gravity, but with the critical addition of the 2 PN and 3 PN repulsive terms, of the spin-quadratic repulsive term, and of the indefinite-spin effect of the spin-orbit interaction.

### D Expected spin of the hole formed by the coalescence of two spinning holes

The last topic we wish to discuss concerns the expected result of the coalescence of two holes. In particular, we are interested in estimating the maximal spin that the final hole, resulting from the coalescence of two spinning holes, might have. It was estimated in  (by using the EOB approach) that the coalescence of two non-spinning holes of the same mass $`m_1=m_2=M/2`$ leads (after taking into account the effect of gravitational radiation on the orbital evolution and on the loss of energy and angular momentum) to the formation of a rotating black hole of mass $`M_{\mathrm{BH}}(1\epsilon _{\mathrm{rd}})\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.976}M`$ and spin parameter $`\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{BH}}0.80`$ \[we have included a factor $`1\epsilon _{\mathrm{rd}}`$ in $`M_{\mathrm{BH}}`$ to take into account the energy loss during the ring-down. Ref.  found $`\epsilon _{\mathrm{rd}}0.7\%`$\]. The fractional energy $`0.9761=0.024`$ roughly corresponds to the (adiabatically estimated) LSO binding energy ($`0.015`$ in the 2 PN-based estimate of ) minus the energy per unit mass radiated during the plunge ($`0.007`$ ). We shall leave to future work a similar estimate, for the 3 PN-plus-spin case, of the amount of energy emitted in GW. We wish here to focus on the issue of the spin of the final hole. The above value $`\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{BH}}0.80`$ is rather close to the maximal value $`\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{max}}=1`$ and there arises the question of whether an EOB treatment of the coalescence of two spinning holes might not formally predict a final value of $`\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{BH}}`$ larger than one! By “EOB treatment” we mean here a completed version of the EOB approach (as in  at the 2 PN, non-spinning level) obtained by: (i) adding a resummed radiation force to the “conservative” EOB dynamics, and (ii) pushing the calculation of the EOB evolution down to its point of unreliability (near the last unstable orbit) where it is matched to a perturbed-single-black-hole description. A zeroth approximation to this completed EOB approach is the one we study in this paper: an adiabatic sequence of solutions of the conservative dynamics, terminated at the LSO. In this approach one entirely neglects the losses of energy and angular momentum during the plunge phase following the crossing of the LSO. The numbers recalled above show that the energy loss during the plunge (and the ring-down) is not negligible compared to the binding energy at the LSO. However, for the present question this is not a problem. What is important is that the angular momentum loss during plunge is a very small fraction (a percent or so) of the angular momentum at the LSO, and that the final mass of the black hole is nearly equal to $`M=m_1+m_2`$. This leads us to the following zeroth order estimate of the spin parameter of the final hole:

$$\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{BH}}\frac{|𝑱|^{\mathrm{LSSO}}}{(E_{\mathrm{real}}^{\mathrm{LSSO}})^2}\frac{|𝑱|^{\mathrm{LSSO}}}{M^2}.$$
(113)
In view of the exact conservation of $`𝑱`$ in our conservative EOB (real) dynamics, it is clear that it is $`|𝑱|^{\mathrm{LSSO}}`$ which is a good measure of the total angular momentum of the final spacetime, i.e. of the final black hole.

We are facing here a potential consistency problem of this simple-minded EOB treatment: when computing (113) for spinning configurations does one always get $`\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{BH}}<1`$? One might worry that, starting with a value of $`\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{BH}}0.80`$ for non-spinning holes, the addition of large spins on the holes might quickly exceed the extremal limit. It is plausible that the most dangerous situation is the “aligned case”, where all the angular momenta, $`𝑳`$, $`𝑺_1`$ and $`𝑺_2`$ are parallel (or antiparallel). In this case the numerator of Eq. (113) reads

$$J^{\mathrm{LSSO}}=L_z^{\mathrm{LSSO}}+S_1+S_2,$$
(114)
while the spin parameter of the effective metric reads

$$\widehat{a}=\widehat{a}_p=\frac{𝒌𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}}{M^2}=\left(X_1^2+\frac{3}{4}\nu \right)\widehat{a}_1+\left(X_2^2+\frac{3}{4}\nu \right)\widehat{a}_2.$$
(115)
Here, we consider $`S_1`$, $`S_2`$ and $`\widehat{a}_1S_1/m_1^2`$, $`\widehat{a}_2S_2/m_2^2`$ as algebraic numbers (positive or negative). This allows us to investigate also the case where the spins might be antiparallel to $`𝒌`$. For simplicity, we shall only study the symmetric case where $`m_1=m_2`$ and $`S_1=S_2`$. For this case

$$\widehat{a}=\widehat{a}_p=\frac{7}{8}\widehat{a}_1,$$
(116)
and

$$\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{BH}}=\frac{J^{\mathrm{LSSO}}}{M^2}=\frac{1}{4}\widehat{L}_z^{\mathrm{LSSO}}+\frac{1}{2}\widehat{a}_1=\frac{1}{4}\widehat{L}_z^{\mathrm{LSSO}}+\frac{4}{7}\widehat{a}_p$$
(117)
where the dimensionless orbital angular momentum $`\widehat{L}_zL_z/\mu M`$ is related to the dimensionless quantity (when $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{LS}}=1`$) $`\overline{\mathrm{}}\sqrt{𝒦}/\mu M=\overline{L}_z/\mu M`$ appearing in (107) through

$$\widehat{L}_z=\overline{\mathrm{}}+\widehat{a}\frac{E_{\mathrm{eff}}}{\mu }.$$
(118)
It is interesting to note that, even in the case where both holes are extreme ($`\widehat{a}_1=\widehat{a}_2=1)`$ the maximum value of the effective spin parameter is $`\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{max}}=\frac{7}{8}<1`$. We have numerically investigated the quantity $`\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{BH}}`$, Eq. (117), as a function of the effective $`\widehat{a}=\widehat{a}_p`$. The result is plotted in Fig. 2 for different values of the 3 PN parameter $`\omega _s`$.

We see that the final spin parameter reaches a maximum for a positive value of $`\widehat{a}_p`$, i.e. for parallel (rather than antiparallel) spins. For the correct 3PN value $`\omega _s=0`$ the maximum value of $`\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{BH}}`$ is comfortably below 1: namely, $`\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{BH}}^{\mathrm{max}}0.87`$, reached for $`\widehat{a}_p+\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.3}`$. This is not much larger than the value $`\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{BH}}0.82`$ obtained for $`\widehat{a}_p=0`$. We find that this is a nice sign of the consistency of the EOB approach. This consistency was not a priori evident. In fact for $`\omega _s9`$ one gets a maximum value of $`\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{BH}}`$ slightly larger than 1. In particular, note that the 2 PN treatment of the orbital dynamics (obtained for $`\omega _s=\omega _s^{}9.3439`$; upper curve in Fig. 2) formally leads to problematic over-extreme values of $`\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{BH}}`$. This may be interpreted as a confirmation of the need of “repulsive” 3 PN effects (i.e. $`\omega _s+91`$). It is (a posteriori!) easy to understand physically why $`\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{BH}}`$, after reaching a maximum, then decreases when one adds more spin on the two black holes. Indeed, there is here a competition between two effects: adding spin on the holes (i.e. increasing $`\widehat{a}_p`$), on the one hand directly contributes to augmenting $`\widehat{a}_{\mathrm{BH}}`$ through the second term of the RHS of Eq. (117), but, on the other hand, indirectly contributes to reducing the total $`J^{\mathrm{LSSO}}`$ by reducing $`\widehat{L}_z^{\mathrm{LSSO}}`$ (indeed, as we explained above, positive spin leads to an LSO orbit closer to the horizon, and therefore with less orbital angular momentum). The first effect wins for smallish spins, while the second (more non-linear) effect wins for larger spins.

## IV Conclusions

We started by recalling the need of techniques for accelerating the convergence of the post-Newtonian (PN) expansions in the last stages of the inspiral of binary systems. We summarized the evidence (Table I) showing the remarkable convergence properties of the best current resummation technique: the effective one-body (EOB) approach of Refs. . We showed how to generalize the EOB approach to the case of two spinning black holes with comparable masses $`(\nu =\mu /M1/4)`$. As a first step towards computing the spin-dependent EOB Hamiltonian we constructed an effective metric, which can be viewed either as a $`\nu `$-deformation of the Kerr metric or as a spin-deformation of the $`\nu `$-deformed effective metric. The effective spin entering this deformed Kerr metric is $`M𝒂𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}\left(1+\frac{3}{4}\frac{m_2}{m_1}\right)𝑺_1+\left(1+\frac{3}{4}\frac{m_1}{m_2}\right)𝑺_2`$. The introduction of this effective $`𝒂`$ allows one to combine in a simple manner all (PN leading) spin-orbit coupling effects, and most of the spin-spin ones, with the rather complex but important 3 PN effects, which have been incorporated only recently in the EOB approach .

We have also constructed a more complicated modified effective Hamiltonian, Eq. (65), which separately depends on two (effective) spin vectors, $`M𝒂_0𝑺_0\left(1+\frac{m_2}{m_1}\right)𝑺_1+\left(1+\frac{m_1}{m_2}\right)𝑺_2`$, and $`𝝈𝑺_{\mathrm{eff}}𝑺_0\frac{1}{4}\left(\frac{m_2}{m_1}𝑺_1+\frac{m_1}{m_2}𝑺_2\right)`$, and which allows a (hopefully) more accurate representation of spin-spin effects. We recommend the simultaneous consideration of $`H_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ and $`H_{\mathrm{eff}}^{}`$ to determine the domain of trustability of the presently constructed spin-dependent EOB Hamiltonian. Namely, when $`H_{\mathrm{real}}=\overline{f}(H_{\mathrm{eff}})`$ and $`H_{\mathrm{real}}^{}=\overline{f}(H_{\mathrm{eff}}^{})`$ lead to numerically very similar evolutions, one is entitled to trusting them both; while a significant difference in their predictions signals a breakdown of the trustability of the simple EOB Hamiltonian proposed here.

The present paper has only investigated a few aspects of the physics predicted by our spin-generalized EOB approach. In particular, as a first cut toward understanding the relevance of our construction for gravitational wave (GW) observations we have discussed the approximate existence of “spherical orbits” (orbits with fixed radial coordinate, as in the Kerr metric) and we studied the binding energy of the last stable spherical orbits (LSSO). A message of this study is that, for most physically relevant cases (in the parameter space where one randomly varies all angles and all spin values), the results are only weakly dependent on the exact numerical values of the 3PN coefficients. Moreover, they exhibit moderate deviations from the non-spinning case (see Fig. 1 and Table II). To give a numerical flavor of the effects of spin we note that, when the projected spin parameter $`\widehat{a}_p=𝒌𝒂/M`$, Eq. (109), is smaller than about $`+\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.2}`$, its effect on the fractional binding energy ($`e(E_{\mathrm{real}}M)/M`$) of the LSSO is, approximately,

$$100e^{\mathrm{LSSO}}1.43\nu _4(1+0.168\nu _4)0.806\nu _4(1+0.888\nu _4)\widehat{a}_p,$$
(119)
where $`\nu _44\nu 4m_1m_2/(m_1+m_2)^21`$. As in most cases (random angles, random spin-kinetic energies) it is plausible that $`|\widehat{a}_p|<a_p^{\mathrm{rms}}0.25`$, we expect that spin effects will only modify the energy emitted as gravitational waves up to the LSSO by less than about $`0.6\%\nu _4M`$.

Such an increase, though modest, is still a significant fractional modification of the corresponding energy loss predicted for non-spinning systems ($`e_0=1.67\%M`$ for $`\nu _4=1`$). In fact, this effect might cause an important bias in the first observations. If the intrinsic spins of the holes can (at all) take large values, the highest signal-to-noise-ratio events in the first years of LIGO observations might select binary systems with rather large and rather aligned spins. It is therefore important to include spin effects in the data analysis of coalescing black holes. We have argued that, in most cases, the simple-minded generalized EOB approach presented here should be a reliable analytical tool for describing the dynamics of two spinning holes and for computing a catalogue of gravitational waveforms, to be used as matched filters in the detection of GW’s. However, it must be admitted that, in the cases where the effective spin vector is coarsely (positively) aligned with the orbital angular momentum, and where the spins are so large that $`\widehat{a}>\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.4}`$, the predictions from the above-introduced EOB Hamiltonian start predicting LSSO radii so near the “effective horizon” where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t(r)=0`$, that they cannot be quantitatively relied upon. \[Though I would still argue that they can be qualitatively trusted, in view of the simple physics they use; see subsection III C.\] We give some examples of that in Table II. In such cases the EOB approach does predict much larger energy losses, possibly larger than $`10\%M`$. In these cases, the uncertainty in the waveform may be so large that one may need the type of non-linear filtering search algorithm advocated in Ref. . We wish, however, to emphasize the differences between our treatment and conclusions and those of Flanagan and Hughes. These authors defined the “merger” phase as (essentially) what comes after the binary system crosses the non-spinning LSO (around 6 $`GM`$), and they assumed that the signal from the “merger” phase can only be obtained from numerical relativity. Moreover, they optimistically assumed that (in all cases) $`10\%M`$ are emitted in GW energy during the merger phase, and 3% during the subsequent ring-down phase. By contrast, our treatment is based on the idea that a suitable resummed version of the PN-expanded dynamics, namely the EOB-plus-Padé approach, can, in most cases, give an analytical handle on the computation of the inspiral signal down to the spin-modified LSSO (and even during the subsequent plunge, as discussed for the spinless case in ). We have argued in several ways that the simple EOB Hamiltonian (53) gives reliable answers in most cases, and allows one to analytically control the possible amplification (or deamplification, when $`\widehat{a}_p<0`$) in GW energy loss due to spin effects. Moreover, it is only in rather extreme cases that we could agree with  in predicting $`>\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}\%M`$ energy losses. In most other cases, we think that the EOB method provides a reliable basis for computing families of wave forms that will be useful templates for the detection of GW’s. Another difference with  is that we have argued, on the basis of definite computations, that the spin of the final hole will never become nearly extremal (even if the initial spins are extremal). This is important for the data analysis of the ring-down signal, because the decay time of the least damped quasi-normal-mode starts becoming large only for near extremal holes.

Let us emphasize that the present work is only a first step toward an improved analytical understanding of the last stages of inspiral motion of two spinning compact objectThough, in most of the paper we only spoke of binary black holes, it should be clarified that our EOB Hamiltonian also applies to binary spinning neutron stars or to spinning neutron-star-black-hole systems, at least down to the stage where the quadrupole deformation of the neutron star becomes significant.. The explicit spin-dependent Hamiltonian (53) (or, better, $`H_{\mathrm{real}}^{}`$ defined at the end of Section II) has only taken into account the leading effects (in a PN expansion) of the spin-dependent interactions. More work is needed to analytically determine more accurate versions of the EOB Hamiltonian. In particular, it would be interesting to explicitly derive the next-to-leading ( 1 PN) corrections to the EOB spin-orbit (and spin-spin) interactions. Furthermore, we have only provided a resummation of the conservative part of the dynamics. There remains the important complementary task of resumming the radiation reaction part. This was done in , using previous results of , only for the spinless case.

Once this is done, we expect, as in our previous study , that the presence of a LSSO along the sequence of adiabatic orbits will be blurred and will be replaced by a continuous transition between inspiral and plunge. There remains also the task of studying the effects of spin-dependent interactions on the gravitational waveform emitted during the last stages of inspiral and during the plunge (that we have not considered here). In other words, one needs to redo, by combining the EOB approach with resummed versions of radiation reaction, the studies, valid far from the LSO, which were based on straightforward PN-expanded results , . Note that our result above about the primary importance of the single parameter $`\widehat{a}_p`$, combined with the understanding  that the number of “useful” cycles in the GW signal for massive binaries is rather small, suggests that a rather small number of “spinning templates” will be really needed in a matched filter data analysis. On the other hand, we recall that it was found in  that the plunge signal (but not the ring-down one, for stellar mass holes) plays a significant role in the data analysis.

It will also be interesting to see, within the EOB approach, the extent to which the non-linear spin-dependent interactions might, as has been recently suggested , lead to a chaotic dynamical evolution. We a priori suspect that two factors will diminish the significance of such chaotic evolutions: (1) they occur only in an improbably small region of phase space (involving, in particular, large spins), and (2) their effect on the crucial GW phasing is rather small.

It would be very useful to have independent means of testing the accuracy of the EOB approach. At this stage we see only three ways of doing that (beyond the performance of more internal checks of the robustness of the approach): (i) an analytical calculation of the 4 PN interaction Hamiltonian, (ii) a comparison between numerical computations and the EOB results, and/or (iii) a comparison between the EOB predictions and the forthcoming GW observations. (i) would be important for assessing the convergence of the PN-resummed EOB Hamiltonian. In view of the extreme difficulties involved in the 3 PN calculations  it would seem hopeless to even mention the 4 PN level. But in fact, the EOB approach itself suggests that the current methods used in PN calculations are highly inefficient, and unnecessarily complicated. Indeed, as emphasized in  the final, gauge-invariant content of the 3 PN result is contained in only three quantities $`a_4`$, $`b_3`$ and $`z_3`$, and only one of them, $`a_4(\nu )`$, is really important for determining the dynamics of inspiralling quasi-circular binaries. If one could invent a new approximation scheme which computes directly $`a_4`$ (at 3 PN), it might be possible to compute its 4 PN counterpart, $`a_5(\nu )`$. (ii) is not yet possible (at least as a test of the EOB Hamiltonian) because numerical computations use as initial data geometrical configurations that do not take into account most of the crucial physics incorporated in PN calculations. Current numerical computations use somewhat ad hoc “binary-black-hole-like” data, often of the restricted spatially conformally flat type, without trying to match their initial data to the near LSO configurations predicted by (resummed) analytical approaches. On the other hand, let us stress that the value of the radial PN-expanded potential $`A(\widehat{u})=12\widehat{u}+a_3(\nu )\widehat{u}^3+a_4(\nu )\widehat{u}^4+\mathrm{}`$ crucially depends on the non-linear gravitational interactions linked to the $`h_{ij}^{TT}`$ part of the spatial metric, i.e. to its non conformally flat part, and also to the non-linear interactions linked to the $`\pi _{TT}^{ij}`$ part of the gravitational field momenta. For instance already at the 2 PN level, the truncation of the Einsteinian prediction for the two-body problem (driven into a close orbit by a long past interaction involving retarded GW interactions) corresponding to artificially assuming a conformally flat spatial metric changes the physically correct value $`a_3^{2\mathrm{PN}}(\nu )=2\nu `$ into $`a_3^{\mathrm{conf}.\mathrm{flat}}(\nu )=\frac{1}{4}(185\nu )\nu `$ . \[It also slightly changes the energy map $`f`$.\] For equal-mass systems, this corresponds to multiplying the positive $`a_3(\nu )`$ by a factor $`+2.09375`$. As we discussed above, this (artificial) increase of the “repulsive” character of the non-linear gravitational interactions tends to artificially increase the binding of the LSO. As the 2PN coefficient is anyway too small to have a large impact on the LSO characteristics, this 2PN change does not, by itself, change much the LSO energy . However, if this tendency to increase the “repulsive” character of the PN expansion (caused by the neglect of the $`h_{ij}^{TT}`$-, and $`\pi _{TT}^{ij}`$-dependent interactions) persists at the (numerically more important) 3PN level, this might explain the current discrepancy between analytical and numerical estimates of LSO characteristics. In fact, we note that the initial data taken by a recent attempt  at fulfilling the proposal of  to start a full numerical calculation only at the moment where it is really needed, i.e. after crossing the LSO, uses LSO initial data  with a binding energy $`e_{\mathrm{LSO}}=E/(m_1+m_2)12.3\%`$ which is 38% larger than the value $`e_{\mathrm{LSO}}^{3\mathrm{PN}}1.67\%`$ obtained at 3 PN (with $`\omega _s=0`$) by analytical estimates. Similarly, the LSO orbital period of the initial data of  is $`T_{\mathrm{LSO}}35(m_1+m_2)`$ , which is twice smaller than the 3 PN estimate $`T_{\mathrm{LSO}}^{3\mathrm{PN}}71.2(m_1+m_2)`$ ! These discrepancies between state-of-the-art numerical LSO initial data and state-of-the-art analytical estimates of LSO data are significantly larger than the natural “theoretical error bar” on the (resummed) analytical estimates (derived, say, by comparing 2PN estimates to 3PN ones). \[See, however, the new numerical approach of  whose LSO data agree well with the 3 PN EOB estimates .\] In our opinion, this makes it urgent for the numerical relativity community to develop ways of constructing initial data that correctly incorporates the crucial non-linear physics (linked to the $`h_{ij}^{TT}`$ and $`\pi _{TT}^{ij}`$ parts of the metric) which is taken into account in PN calculations. If a significant discrepancy remains after this is done, one will be entitled to blame the lack of convergence of the EOB-resummed PN calculations. If one finds agreement, this will be a confirmation of the claim made here that the Padé-improved EOB is a reliable description of the last orbits before coalescence. Once one succeeds in matching analytical and numerical results for non-spinning black holes, it will be very interesting to use numerical data on fast-spinning black holes to refine the EOB Hamiltonian by fitting the values of the extra parameters which can be introduced in the EOB Hamiltonian to represent higher PN effects. In the long term we expect that such a complementarity between numerical and analytical tools will be needed for defining a sufficiently dense set of GW templates. \[In view of the large dimensionality of the parameter space of the two spinning hole system, it seems hopeless to use only numerical techniques to define a dense network of templates.\]

Finally, even if no decisive progress is made on (i) or (ii) before the first sources are detected, there remains the possibility that the first observations might confirm the soundness of (or suggest specific modifications of) the EOB-based waveforms, and thereby facilitate further detections by narrowing the bank of templates. For instance, one might include a 4PN contribution $`+a_5(\nu )u^5`$ to $`A(u)`$, as a free parameter in constructing a bank of templates, and wait until LIGO/VIRGO/GEO get high signal-to-noise-ratio observations of massive coalescing binaries to determine its numerical value.

###### Acknowledgements.

It is a pleasure to thank David Blair for a question which prompted this work, and the University of Western Australia for hospitality during its inception.