pyseobnr provides state-of-the-art gravitational waveforms using the effective-one-body (EOB) approach.

For installation instructions, documentation, examples and more, visit the documentation here.

Installation

To install, you will need the following non-python dependencies:

• hdf5
• gsl>=2.7
• swig>=4.0.1
• fftw3
• lalsuite

The easiest way to get these is by using conda. First, create a new conda environment with

conda create -n pyseobnr python=3.9
conda activate pyseobnr
conda install -c conda-forge lalsuite

You can install a released version of pyseobnr by running

pip install pyseobnr

If installing from source, you can do:

pip install -U pip wheel setuptools
pip install .

Installing dependencies for checks

If one wants to run sanity checks in pyseobnr/auxiliary/sanity_checks additional dependencies must be installed. This can be done simply by running

pip install .[checks]

You will have to install the waveform_tools from here manually though, with e.g. the following command

pip install git+https://bitbucket.org/sergei_ossokine/waveform_tools

License

pyseobnr is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later, see here for a description of this license, or see the LICENSE file for the full text.

References

We request that any academic report, publication, or other academic disclosure of results derived from the use of pyseobnr acknowledge the use of the software by an appropriate acknowledgment or citation.

The code can be cited by citing the code repository and the associated publication: Mihaylov et al., "pySEOBNR: a software package for the next generation of effective-one-body multipolar waveform models", 2023, arXiv:2303.18203. A bibtex entry is provided:

@article{Mihaylov:2023bkc,
    author = {Mihaylov, Deyan P. and Ossokine, Serguei and Buonanno, Alessandra and Estelles, Hector and Pompili, Lorenzo and P\"urrer, Michael and Ramos-Buades, Antoni},
    title = "{pySEOBNR: a software package for the next generation of effective-one-body multipolar waveform models}",
    eprint = "2303.18203",
    archivePrefix = "arXiv",
    primaryClass = "gr-qc",
    doi = "10.1016/j.softx.2025.102080",
    journal = "SoftwareX",
    volume = "30",
    pages = "102080",
    year = "2025"
}

In addition, if released models are used, the model papers should be cited:

• For SEOBNRv5PHM, Ramos-Buades et al., "SEOBNRv5PHM: Next generation of accurate and efficient multipolar precessing-spin effective-one-body waveforms for binary black holes", 2023, arXiv:2303.18046. If using the version of the model including equatorial multipole asymmetries, please also cite Estellés et al., "Adding equatorial-asymmetric effects for spin-precessing binaries into the SEOBNRv5PHM waveform model", arXiv:2506.19911.
• For SEOBNRv5HM, Pompili et al., "Laying the foundation of the effective-one-body waveform models SEOBNRv5: improved accuracy and efficiency for spinning non-precessing binary black holes", 2023, arXiv:2303.18039.
• For SEOBNRv5EHM, Gamboa et al., "Accurate waveforms for eccentric, aligned-spin binary black holes: The multipolar effective-one-body model SEOBNRv5EHM", 2024, arXiv:2412.12823.
• For pSEOBNRv5PHM, Pompili et al., "A parametrized spin-precessing inspiral-merger-ringdown waveform model for tests of general relativity", 2025, arXiv:2504.10130.

If you build on the existing models, please cite:

• Khalil et al., "Theoretical groundwork supporting the precessing-spin two-body dynamics of the effective-one-body waveform models SEOBNRv5", 2023, arXiv:2303.18143.
• Van de Meent et al., "Enhancing the SEOBNRv5 effective-one-body waveform model with second-order gravitational self-force fluxes", 2023, arXiv:2303.18026.
• Toubiana et al., "Measuring source properties and quasinormal mode frequencies of heavy massive black-hole binaries with LISA", 2024, arXiv:2307.15086.
• Gamboa et al., "Third post-Newtonian dynamics for eccentric orbits and aligned spins in the effective-one-body waveform model SEOBNRv5EHM", 2024, arXiv:2412.12831.