the signal first becomes [*visible*]{} in the detector, (ii) the [*phase*]{} $\Phi$ of the signal at the time of arrival and (iii) the chirp mass. At this level of approximation two coalescing binary signals of the same chirp mass but of different sets of individual masses would be degenerate and thus exhibit exactly the same time evolution. This degeneracy is removed when post-Newtonian corrections are included. The parameters $t_s$ and $\Phi$ are [*kinematical*]{} that fix the origin of the measurement of time and phase, respectively, while the Newtonian and the post-Newtonian chirp times are [*dynamical*]{} parameters in the sense that they dictate the evolution of the phase and the amplitude of the signal.

The parameters $\tau_0$, $\tau_1$ and $t_s$ have the dimensions of time. We convert them to dimensionless parameters by multiplying them with $2\pi f_s$. Thus we have the parameter set, $$\bbox{\mu} \equiv 
\{\mu^0,\mu^1,\mu^2,\mu^3,\mu^4\} \equiv \{A,2\pi f_st_s, \Phi, 2\pi
f_s\tau_0, 2\pi f_s\tau_1\}.$$

In the stationary phase approximation the Fourier transform of the restricted second-post-Newtonian chirp waveform for positive frequencies is given by [@Th87; @SD91; @FC93; @CF94]. $$\tilde s (f) = A {\cal N} f^{-7/6} \exp \left [i\sum_{j=1}^4\chi_j(f)\mu^j
- i {\pi \over 4} \right ] \ ,   
\label {FT}$$ where 