Gravitational-wave astronomy with a physical calibration model

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Payne, Ethan, Talbot, Colm, Lasky, Paul D, Thrane, Eric, Kissel, Jeffrey S
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 21.09.2020
• Subjects: Astronomy; Binary stars; Calibration; Computer simulation; Cost analysis; Gravitation; Gravitational waves; Importance sampling; Inference; Matched filters; Physics - General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology; Physics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena; Physics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics; Signal to noise ratio; Sirens; Systematic errors; Waveforms
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2009.10193

We carry out astrophysical inference for compact binary merger events in LIGO-Virgo's first gravitational-wave transient catalog (GWTC-1) using a physically motivated calibration model. We demonstrate that importance sampling can be used to reduce the cost of what would otherwise be a computationally challenging analysis. We show that including the physical estimate for the calibration error distribution has negligible impact on the inference of parameters for the events in GWTC-1. Studying a simulated signal with matched filter signal-to-noise ratio \(\text{SNR}=200\), we project that a calibration error estimate typical of GWTC-1 is likely to be negligible for the current generation of gravitational-wave detectors. We argue that other sources of systematic error---from waveforms, prior distributions, and noise modelling---are likely to be more important. Finally, using the events in GWTC-1 as standard sirens, we infer an astrophysically-informed improvement on the estimate of the calibration error in the LIGO interferometers.