Accurate time-domain gravitational waveforms for extreme-mass-ratio binaries

The accuracy of time-domain solutions of the inhomogeneous Teukolsky equation is improved significantly. Comparing energy fluxes in gravitational waves with highly accurate frequency- domain results for circular equatorial orbits in Schwarzschild and Kerr, we find agreement to within 1% or better, which may be even further improved. We apply our method to orbits for which frequency-domain calculations have a relative disadvantage, specifically high-eccentricity (elliptical and parabolic) zoom-whirl orbits, and find the energy fluxes, waveforms, and characteristic strain in gravitational waves. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2007