Wide precession: binary black-hole spins repeatedly oscillating from full alignment to full anti-alignment. (arXiv:1811.05979v1 [gr-qc])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/gr-qc/1/au:+Gerosa_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">Davide Gerosa</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/gr-qc/1/au:+Lima_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Alicia Lima</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/gr-qc/1/au:+Berti_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">Emanuele Berti</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/gr-qc/1/au:+Sperhake_U/0/1/0/all/0/1">Ulrich Sperhake</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/gr-qc/1/au:+Kesden_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Michael Kesden</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/gr-qc/1/au:+OShaughnessy_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Richard O&#x27;Shaughnessy</a>

Within the framework of 2PN black-hole binary spin precession, we explore
configurations where one of the two spins oscillates from being completely
aligned with the orbital angular momentum to being completely anti-aligned with
it during a single precession cycle. This “wide precession” is the extreme
limit of the generic phenomenon of spin nutation in black-hole binaries.
Crucially, wide precession happens on the short precession time scale and it is
not a secular effect due to gravitational-wave radiation reaction. The spins of
these binaries, therefore, flip repeatedly as one of these special
configurations is entered. Binaries with total mass $M$, mass ratio $q$, and
dimensionless spin $chi_1$ ($chi_2$) of the more (less) massive black hole
are allowed to undergo wide precession at binary separations $r leq r_{rm
wide} equiv [(q chi_2 – chi_1)/(1-q)]^2 M$. Sources that are more likely to
precess widely have similar masses and effective spins close to zero.

Within the framework of 2PN black-hole binary spin precession, we explore
configurations where one of the two spins oscillates from being completely
aligned with the orbital angular momentum to being completely anti-aligned with
it during a single precession cycle. This “wide precession” is the extreme
limit of the generic phenomenon of spin nutation in black-hole binaries.
Crucially, wide precession happens on the short precession time scale and it is
not a secular effect due to gravitational-wave radiation reaction. The spins of
these binaries, therefore, flip repeatedly as one of these special
configurations is entered. Binaries with total mass $M$, mass ratio $q$, and
dimensionless spin $chi_1$ ($chi_2$) of the more (less) massive black hole
are allowed to undergo wide precession at binary separations $r leq r_{rm
wide} equiv [(q chi_2 – chi_1)/(1-q)]^2 M$. Sources that are more likely to
precess widely have similar masses and effective spins close to zero.

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