System Frame

To draw inferences about gravitational waves from data, one must systematically compare models against data. The usual methods for doing so (Markov Chain Monte Carlo and nested sampling) wander through the parameter space, often nearby, to identify the next model to try. These methods are therefore invariably sensitive to the choice of coordinates on the set of models.

In this paper, we introduced coordinates defined the detector is sensitive, using angles relative to a conserved constant (J). These coordinates both reflect what’s best-constrained by measurements and enable faster parameter estimation, by roughly an order of magnitude.

For more information, see our paper: Farr et al, “A more effective coordinate system for parameter estimation of precessing compact binaries from gravitational waves”, arxiv:1404.7070