RIT-NRCatalog PE

Gravitational wave astronomy relies on comparing detector data to our best estimates for the solutions to Einstein’s equations. At root, these estimates all derive from supercomputer-based simulations of these equations: numerical relativity (NR). Due to their high cost, they’re relatively rare, and various approximations have been developed to mimic them or interpolate between them with some level of fidelity. We’ve previously pioneered methods to interpret GW data by directly comparing to NR, circumventing these intermediate approximations. With a new paper, we demonstrate this comparison technique systematically, characterizing the most significant reported GW observations from the first two ``observing runs” of current GW detectors.

For experts: We demonstrate PE based only on comparison to NR works on O1O2. If we use the same priors, we get essentially the same answers as model-based methods. This demonstrates that simulation sparseness is not a significant obstacle, and shows our method can be applied effectively to paraeters (like eccentricity) which haven’t yet been modeled as thoroughly.

For more information, see the links below, and prior posts

• Healy et al Application of the third RIT binary black hole simulations catalog to parameter estimation of gravitational waves signals from the LIGO-Virgo O1/O2 observational runs