paper

Parameter Estimation for GW170817 using Relative Binning

arXiv:1806.08793

Abstract

Relative binning is a new method for fast and accurate evaluation of the likelihood of gravitational wave strain data. This technique can be used to produce reliable posterior distributions for compact object mergers with very moderate computational resources. We use a fast likelihood evaluation code based on this technique to estimate the parameters of the double neutron-star merger event GW170817 using publicly available LIGO data. We obtain statistically similar posteriors using either Markov-chain Monte-Carlo or nested sampling. The results do not favor non-zero aligned spins at a statistically significant level. There is no significant sign of non-zero tidal deformability (as quantified by the Bayesian evidence), whether or not high-spin or low-spin priors are adopted. Our posterior samples are publicly available, and we also provide a tutorial Python code to implement fast likelihood evaluation using the relative binning method.

arXiv comment8 pages, 1 table, 5 figures. In version 2 we added a comparison between two difference choices for the high frequency cutoff (1000 Hz versus 1500 Hz). The relative binning technique is presented in a companion paper arXiv:1806.08792. Reference python code and posterior samples are available to download at: https://bitbucket.org/dailiang8/gwbinning/

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