Identifying strong gravitational-wave lensing during the second observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo

Abstract

We perform Bayesian model selection with parameter estimation to identify potentially lensed gravitational-wave images from the second observing run (O2) of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. Specifically, we compute the Bayesian evidence for a pair of events being lensed or not lensed (unlensed) using nested sampling. We consider the discrete coalescence phase shifts that can be induced if the gravitational-wave signal interacts with the lens caustics in the model selection. We find that the pair of events, GW170104 and GW170814 with a $\pi /2$ coalescence phase shift, has a significant Bayes factor ($B_U^L$ $\sim 1.98\times 10^4$) favoring the lensing hypothesis. However, after taking into account the long time delay of approximately 7 months between events, the timing Bayes factor is significantly small ($B_t\sim 8.7\times 10^{-2}$). The prior probability for detecting strongly lensed pairs at O2 sensitivity are exceedingly small for both galaxy and galaxy cluster lensing. Combining the lensing and timing Bayes factors with the prior odds on lensing gives an odds ratio of $O_U^L\sim 20$. However, the model dependence of the timing and prior odds factors does not provide strong evidence to demonstrate that the pair is strongly lensed.

arXiv comment8 pages, 4 figures; references added; figures updated

References in corpus (33)

• GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
• Advanced Virgo: a 2nd generation interferometric gravitational wave detector
• GWTC-1: A Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog of Compact Binary Mergers Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the First and Second Observing Runs
• GW170104: Observation of a 50-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence at Redshift 0.2
• GW170814: A Three-Detector Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Coalescence
• Characterization of the LIGO detectors during their sixth science run
• GW170608: Observation of a 19-solar-mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence
• Frequency-domain gravitational waves from non-precessing black-hole binaries. II. A phenomenological model for the advanced detector era
• Robust parameter estimation for compact binaries with ground-based gravitational-wave observations using the LALInference software library
• The first gravitational-wave source from the isolated evolution of two 40-100 Msun stars
• Binary Black Hole Population Properties Inferred from the First and Second Observing Runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
• Frequency-domain gravitational waves from non-precessing black-hole binaries. I. New numerical waveforms and anatomy of the signal
• An introduction to Bayesian inference in gravitational-wave astronomy: parameter estimation, model selection, and hierarchical models
• Wave Effects in Gravitational Lensing of Gravitational Waves from Chirping Binaries
• 2-OGC: Open Gravitational-wave Catalog of binary mergers from analysis of public Advanced LIGO and Virgo data
• Search for gravitational lensing signatures in LIGO-Virgo binary black hole events
• Gravitational lensing of gravitational waves: A statistical perspective
• Effect of gravitational lensing on the distribution of gravitational waves from distant binary black hole mergers
• Precise LIGO Lensing Rate Predictions for Binary Black Holes
• Gravitational Lensing of Gravitational Waves from Merging Neutron Star Binaries
• Localizing merging black holes with sub-arcsecond precision using gravitational-wave lensing
• What if LIGO's gravitational wave detections are strongly lensed by massive galaxy clusters?
• Effect of lensing magnification on the apparent distribution of black hole mergers
• What does strong gravitational lensing? The mass and redshift distribution of high-magnification lenses
• Search for strongly lensed counterpart images of binary black hole mergers in the first two LIGO observing runs
• On the waveforms of gravitationally lensed gravitational waves
• SDSSJ2222+2745 A Gravitationally Lensed Sextuple Quasar with Maximum Image Separation of 15.1" Discovered in the Sloan Giant Arcs Survey
• Identifying strongly lensed gravitational wave signals from binary black hole mergers
• Strong lensing as a giant telescope to localize the host galaxy of gravitational wave event
• Inferring the lensing rate of LIGO-Virgo sources from the stochastic gravitational wave background
• Deep and rapid observations of strong-lensing galaxy clusters within the sky localisation of GW170814
• Constraining the lensing of binary black holes from their stochastic background
• Core or cusps: The central dark matter profile of a redshift one strong lensing cluster with a bright central image

Cited by in corpus (57)

• Please repeat: Strong lensing of gravitational waves as a probe of compact binary and galaxy populations
• Gravitational Lensing of Gravitational Waves: Effect of Microlens Population in Lensing Galaxies
• Beyond the detector horizon: Forecasting gravitational-wave strong lensing
• Stellar-mass microlensing of gravitational waves
• Gravitational wave lensing as a probe of halo properties and dark matter
• A fast and precise methodology to search for and analyse strongly lensed gravitational-wave events
• Bayesian statistical framework for identifying strongly lensed gravitational-wave signals
• Strongly Lensed Transient Sources: A Review
• Follow-up Analyses to the O3 LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Lensing Searches
• On the identification of individual gravitational wave image types of a lensed system using higher-order modes
• Targeted Sub-threshold Search for Strongly-lensed Gravitational-wave Events
• Discovering gravitationally lensed gravitational waves: predicted rates, candidate selection, and localization with the Vera Rubin Observatory
• Rapid Identification of Strongly Lensed Gravitational-Wave Events with Machine Learning
• Lensing or luck? False alarm probabilities for gravitational lensing of gravitational waves
• Exploring the hidden Universe: A novel phenomenological approach for recovering arbitrary gravitational-wave millilensing configurations
• Improved statistic to identify strongly lensed gravitational wave events
• Event rate predictions of strongly lensed gravitational waves with detector networks and more realistic templates
• Detection and parameter estimation challenges of Type-II lensed binary black hole signals
• Modified gravitational wave propagation with higher modes and its degeneracies with lensing
• Astrophysical Gravitational-Wave Echoes from Galactic Nuclei
• On the detection and precise localisation of merging black holes events through strong gravitational lensing
• The Return of GOLUM: Improving Distributed Joint Parameter Estimation for Strongly-Lensed Gravitational Waves
• Detectability of lensed gravitational waves in matched-filtering searches
• Improving Detection of Gravitational wave Microlensing Using Repeated Signals Induced by Strong Lensing
• Ordering the confusion: A study of the impact of lens models on gravitational-wave lensing detection capabilities
• Inferring the Intermediate Mass Black Hole Number Density from Gravitational Wave Lensing Statistics
• Detecting Strong Gravitational Lensing of Gravitational Waves with TianQin
• Identifying strongly lensed gravitational waves through their phase consistency
• Lensing magnification: gravitational waves from coalescing stellar-mass binary black holes
• Multi-messenger Gravitational Lensing
• On the detection of the electromagnetic counterparts from lensed gravitational wave events by binary neutron star mergers
• Deep Learning-based Search for Microlensing Signature from Binary Black Hole Events in GWTC-1 and -2
• Search for lensing signatures in the gravitational-wave observations from the first half of LIGO-Virgo's third observing run
• Gravitational lensing of gravitational waves: prospects for probing intermediate-mass black holes in galaxy lenses with global minima image
• An interference-based method for the detection of strongly lensed gravitational waves
• What is the nature of GW230529? An exploration of the gravitational lensing hypothesis
• False positives for gravitational lensing: the gravitational-wave perspective
• Waveform systematics in identifying strongly gravitationally lensed gravitational waves: Posterior overlap method
• Identifying Strongly Lensed Gravitational Waves with the Third-generation Detectors
• Associating fast radio bursts with compact binary mergers via gravitational lensing
• Fundamental Physics and Cosmology with TianQin
• Rigorous calculation of scalar scattering in Schwarzschild background: the convergence of partial-wave series and Poisson spot
• TESLA-X: An effective method to search for sub-threshold lensed gravitational waves with a targeted population model
• lenscat: a Public and Community-Contributed Catalog of Known Strong Gravitational Lenses
• Schwarzschild Lensing From Geodesic Deviation
• Uncovering faint lensed gravitational-wave signals and reprioritizing their follow-up analysis using galaxy lensing forecasts with detected counterparts
• Mitigating the effect of the population model uncertainty on the strong lensing Bayes factor using nonparametric methods
• Modulations of Gravitational Waves due to Non-static Gravitational Lenses
• Gravitational lensing aided luminosity distance estimation for compact binary coalescences
• Bayesian Analysis of Wave-Optics Gravitationally Lensed Massive Black Hole Binaries with Space-Based Gravitational Wave Detector
• A ${\chi }^2$ statistic for the identification of strongly lensed gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences
• Improved Identification of Strongly Lensed Gravitational Waves with Host Galaxy Locations
• Using overlap of sky localization probability maps for filtering potentially lensed pairs of gravitational-wave signals
• Probing modified gravitational wave propagation with strongly lensed coalescing binaries
• Comparing Bayes factors and hierarchical inference for testing general relativity with gravitational waves
• Can Eccentric Binary Black Hole Signals Mimic Gravitational-Wave Microlensing?
• Mock Catalogs of Strongly Lensed Gravitational Waves via A Halo Model Approach with Ground-based Detectors