Gravitational waves from inspiraling compact binaries: Second post-Newtonian waveforms as search templates

We ascertain the effectiveness of the second post-Newtonian approximation to the gravitational waves emitted during the adiabatic inspiral of a compact binary system as templates for signal searches with kilometer-scale interferometric detectors. The reference signal is obtained by solving the Teukolsky equation for a small mass moving on a circular orbit around a large nonrotating black hole. Fitting factors computed from this signal and these templates, for various types of binary systems, are all above the 90% mark. According to Apostolatos' criterion, second post-Newtonian waveforms should make acceptably effective search templates.