Gravitational-wave data analysis using binary black-hole waveforms

Coalescing binary black-hole systems are among the most promising sources of gravitational waves for ground-based interferometers. While the \emph{inspiral} and \emph{ring-down} stages of the binary black-hole coalescence are well-modelled by analytical approximation methods in general relativity, the recent progress in numerical relativity has enabled us to compute accurate waveforms from the \emph{merger} stage also. This has an important impact on the search for gravitational waves from binary black holes. In particular, while the current gravitational-wave searches look for each stage of the coalescence separately, combining the results from analytical and numerical relativity enables us to \emph{coherently} search for all three stages using a single template family. Complete' binary black-hole waveforms can now be produced by matching post-Newtonian waveforms with those computed by numerical relativity. These waveforms can be parametrised to produce analytical waveform templates. The complete’ waveforms can also be used to estimate the efficiency of different search methods aiming to detect signals from black-hole coalescences. This paper summarises some recent efforts in this direction.