Unveiling the spectrum of inspiralling binary black holes

The higher multipoles of gravitational wave signals from coalescing compact binaries play a vital role in the accurate reconstruction of source properties, bringing about a deeper and nuanced understanding of fundamental physics and astrophysics. Their effect is most pronounced in systems with asymmetric masses having an orbital geometry that is not face-on. The detection of higher multipoles of gravitational wave signals from any single, isolated merger event is challenging, as there is much less power in comparison to the dominant quadrupole mode. In this paper, we present a new method for their detection by combining multiple events observed in interferometric gravitational wave detectors. Sub-dominant modes present in (the inspiral part of) the signal from separate events are stacked using time-frequency spectrogram of the data. We demonstrate that this procedure enhances the signal-to-noise ratio of the higher-multipole components and thereby leads to increased chances of their detection. From Monte Carlo simulations we estimate that a combination of ∼100 events observed in two-detector coincidence can lead to the detection of the higher-multipole components with a ≥95% detection probability. The Advanced LIGO detectors are expected to record these many binary black hole merger events within a month of operation at design sensitivity. We also present results from the analysis of data from first and second observing runs containing previously detected events using our new method.