Template Banks for Binary black hole searches with Numerical Relativity
  waveforms
  Gravitational waves (GW) from coalescing stellar-mass black hole binaries
(BBH) are expected to be detected by the Advanced Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-wave Observatory and Advanced Virgo. Detection searches operate
by matched-filtering the detector data using a bank of waveform templates.
Traditionally, template banks for BBH are constructed from intermediary
analytical waveform models which are calibrated against numerical relativity
simulations and which can be aluated for any choice of BBH parameters. This
paper explores an alternative to the traditional approach, namely the
construction of template banks directly from numerical BBH simulations. Using
non-spinning BBH systems as an example, we demonstrate which regions of the
mass-parameter plane can be covered with existing numerical BBH waveforms. We
estimate the required number and required length of BBH simulations to cover
the entire non-spinning BBH parameter plane up to mass-ratio 10, thus
illustrating that our approach can be used to guide parameter placement of
future numerical simulations. We derive error bounds which are independent of
analytical waveform models; therefore, our formalism can be used to
independently test the accuracy of such waveform models. The resulting template
banks are suitable for advanced LIGO searches.
