Parameter Estimation in Searches for the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background

Abstract

The stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB) is expected to arise from the superposition of many independent and unresolved gravitational-wave signals of either cosmological or astrophysical origin. The spectral content of the SGWB carries signatures of the physics that generated it. We present a Bayesian framework for estimating the parameters associated with different SGWB models using data from gravitational-wave detectors. We apply this technique to recent results from LIGO to produce the first simultaneous 95% confidence level limits on multiple parameters in generic power-law SGWB models and in SGWB models of compact binary coalescences. We also estimate the sensitivity of the upcoming second-generation detectors such as Advanced LIGO/Virgo to these models and demonstrate how SGWB measurements can be combined and compared with observations of individual compact binary coalescences in order to build confidence in the origin of an observed SGWB signal. In doing so, we demonstrate a novel means of differentiating between different sources of the SGWB.

6 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (5)

• LIGO: The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
• Gravitational wave stochastic background from cosmic (super)strings
• Gravitational-Wave Stochastic Background from Kinks and Cusps on Cosmic Strings
• On the Evolutionary History of Stars and their Fossil Mass and Light
• Gravitational Waves from the First Stars

Cited by in corpus (66)

• Sensitivity curves for searches for gravitational-wave backgrounds
• Merging binary black holes formed through chemically homogeneous evolution in short-period stellar binaries
• Detection methods for stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds: a unified treatment
• Upper Limits on the Isotropic Gravitational-Wave Background from Advanced LIGO's and Advanced Virgo's Third Observing Run
• GW150914: Implications for the stochastic gravitational wave background from binary black holes
• Search for the isotropic stochastic background using data from Advanced LIGO's second observing run
• Upper Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Advanced LIGO's First Observing Run
• Constraints on cosmic strings using data from the third Advanced LIGO-Virgo observing run
• Gravitational-wave cosmology across 29 decades in frequency
• On the gravitational wave background from compact binary coalescences in the band of ground-based interferometers
• Improved Upper Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from 2009-2010 LIGO and Virgo Data
• A first search for a stochastic gravitational-wave background from ultralight bosons
• Shouts and Murmurs: Combining Individual Gravitational-Wave Sources with the Stochastic Background to Measure the History of Binary Black Hole Mergers
• Correlated magnetic noise in global networks of gravitational-wave interferometers: observations and implications
• Parameter estimation with gravitational waves
• Measurement of Parity Violation in the Early Universe using Gravitational-wave Detectors
• Measuring the spectrum of primordial gravitational waves with CMB, PTA and Laser Interferometers
• Polarization-based Tests of Gravity with the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background
• Modeling and searching for a stochastic gravitational-wave background from ultralight vector bosons
• Implications for First-Order Cosmological Phase Transitions from the Third LIGO-Virgo Observing Run
• Measuring the primordial gravitational-wave background in the presence of astrophysical foregrounds
• The astrophysical science case for a decihertz gravitational-wave detector
• A Mock Data and Science Challenge for Detecting an Astrophysical Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background with Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
• Probing Gravitational Parity Violation with Gravitational Waves from Stellar-mass Black Hole Binaries
• Simultaneous estimation of astrophysical and cosmological stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds with terrestrial detectors
• Mis-Modelling in Gravitational Wave Astronomy: The Trouble With Templates
• Stochastic gravitational wave background from hydrodynamic turbulence in differentially rotating neutron stars
• A Systematic Study of the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background due to Stellar Core Collapse
• Detecting a stochastic gravitational-wave background in the presence of correlated magnetic noise
• Search for a scalar induced stochastic gravitational wave background in the third LIGO-Virgo observing run
• Limits of Astrophysics with Gravitational-Wave Backgrounds
• A Model of the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background due to Core Collapse to Black Holes
• Measuring the non-Gaussian stochastic gravitational-wave background: a method for realistic interferometer data
• Constraints on the ultralight scalar boson from Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo's first three observing runs using the stochastic gravitational-wave background
• pygwb: Python-based library for gravitational-wave background searches
• Constraining modified theories of gravity with gravitational wave stochastic background
• Search for the stochastic gravitational-wave background induced by primordial curvature perturbations in LIGO's second observing run
• Component Separation of a Isotropic Gravitational Wave Background
• Multi-wavelength observations of cosmological phase transitions using LISA and Cosmic Explorer
• Frequentist versus Bayesian analyses: Cross-correlation as an (approximate) sufficient statistic for LIGO-Virgo stochastic background searches
• Stochastic gravitational-wave background from spin loss of black holes
• The stochastic background of gravitational waves due to the f-mode instability in neutron stars
• Phase-transition sound of inflation at gravitational waves detectors
• Constraining the Gravitational-Wave Spectrum from Cosmological First-Order Phase Transitions Using Data from LIGO-Virgo First Three Observing Runs
• Search for a gravitational wave background from primordial black hole binaries using data from the first three LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing runs
• Implications for Cosmic Domain Walls from LIGO-Virgo First Three Observing Runs
• Jointly setting upper limits on multiple components of an anisotropic stochastic gravitational-wave background
• Constraints on Inflation with Null Energy Condition Violation from Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo's First Three Observing Runs
• Computational Techniques for Parameter Estimation of Gravitational Wave Signals
• Bayesian parameter estimation for targeted anisotropic gravitational-wave background
• Constraints on Non-Gaussian primordial curvature perturbation from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA third observing run
• Two-Step Procedure to Detect Cosmological Gravitational Wave Backgrounds with Next-Generation Terrestrial Gravitational-Wave Detectors
• Search for stochastic gravitational-wave background from string cosmology with Advanced LIGO and Virgo's O1$\sim$O3 data
• Astrophysics with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
• Searching for double-peak and doubly broken gravitational-wave spectra from Advanced LIGO-Virgo's first three observing runs
• Background information: a study on the sensitivity of astrophysical gravitational-wave background searches
• Gravitational-wave searches in the era of Advanced LIGO and Virgo
• Spectrogram correlated stacking: A novel time-frequency domain analysis of the Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background
• Accelerated inference of binary black-hole populations from the stochastic gravitational-wave background
• Effects of calibration uncertainties on the detection and parameter estimation of isotropic gravitational-wave backgrounds
• Search for a Gravitational-Wave Background from Sound Speed Resonance from Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo's First Three Observing Runs
• Graph-based Summary Statistics for Revealing the Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background in Pulsar Timing Arrays
• Model-agnostic gravitational-wave background characterization algorithm
• Probing the peak of star formation with the stochastic background of binary black hole mergers
• Constraints and detection capabilities of GW polarizations with space-based detectors in different TDI combinations
• Group delay of electromagnetic pulses through multilayer dielectric mirrors beyond special relativity