Accurate waveforms for generic planar-orbit binary black holes: The multipolar effective-one-body model SEOBNRv6EHM

Abstract: Accurate and computationally efficient waveform models are required to infer the parameters of compact binaries from their gravitational wave (GW) emission. Among these parameters, orbital eccentricity serves as a smoking gun for dynamical formation channels and must be accounted for to avoid systematic errors in GW analyses. Here, we present SEOBNRv6EHM, a time-domain, multipolar waveform model for binaries on generic planar orbits, calibrated to quasi-circular (QC) numerical-relativity (NR) simulations from the SXS collaboration. In addition to the dominant $(2,2)$ mode, the model provides the $(2,1)$, $(3,3)$, $(3,2)$, $(4,4)$, and $(4,3)$ multipoles for the full inspiral-merger-ringdown process of coalescing binaries, as well as for dynamical captures and scattering encounters. The model is built within the effective-one-body (EOB) framework, and it employs novel resummations of the radiation-reaction force and waveform modes. We validate its accuracy through comparisons against 592 QC, 319 eccentric, one dynamical-capture, and two scattering SXS NR waveforms, and through scattering-angle comparisons against 61 SXS NR simulations. For QC and small-eccentricity binaries, its accuracy is comparable to previous-generation SEOBNRv5 models. For highly eccentric systems, however, SEOBNRv6EHM attains unprecedented accuracy, with waveform mismatches remaining below or close to $ 2\% $ across the total mass range $ 20-200\, \mathrm{M}_\odot $ for eccentricities up to $\sim 0.9$ at 14 periastron passages before merger. Additionally, SEOBNRv6EHM achieves waveform-generation walltimes that are $ 2 - 6 $ times faster than other state-of-the-art EOB eccentric models, enabling efficient and accurate applications in GW astronomy.