Spin-Inversion Degeneracies in Restricted Inspiral Waveforms for LISA

Abstract

Spin inversions appear in several settings. Analytical work predicts a single spin flip during unequal-mass supermassive binary inspiral, while numerical relativity and post-Newtonian calculations show repeated flip-flop motion in comparable-mass binaries. Secular spin evolution also predicts additional cases driven by spin-induced mass quadrupoles. Whether these effects can be distinguished in gravitational-wave data is still unclear. We combine the secular spin angle equations with a quasi-circular second post-Newtonian frequency evolution and build a restricted waveform weighted by the sky-averaged LISA sensitivity. We study five near-equal-mass injections with detector-frame total mass $M=2\times10^5M_\odot$, including Kerr flip-flops and one quadrupole-induced case. Each injection is compared with physically evolving waveforms constrained to have no orbital-plane crossings. We search all four no-inversion sectors, vary the masses, spin magnitudes, and initial spin angles, and maximize over time, phase, and overall amplitude. Large spin motion does not by itself lead to a clearly different waveform in this restricted model. A weak spin that sweeps through $133.26^\circ$ leaves a residual SNR of $0.806$ at reference signal SNR $ρ_\star=100$. A case where both spins cross the orbital plane many times gives the largest residual, $1.641$. The quadrupole case has a secondary-spin range of $128.11^\circ$ with five crossings, yet the best no-inversion candidate found leaves a residual SNR of only $0.454$. All largest matches found exceed $0.999865$. Within this restricted model, the spin inversion cases are therefore strongly degenerate with no-inversion binaries at $ρ_\star=100$. More complete waveforms, including observer-frame precession modulations, higher harmonics, separate polarizations, and the full LISA response, are needed to test whether this degeneracy can be broken.