Assessing the compact-binary merger candidates reported by the MBTA pipeline in the LIGO-Virgo O3 run: probability of astrophysical origin, classification, and associated uncertainties

Abstract

We describe the method used by the Multi-Band Template Analysis (MBTA) pipeline to compute the probability of astrophysical origin, $p_{astro}$, of compact binary coalescence candidates in LIGO-Virgo data from the third observing run (O3). The calculation is performed as part of the offline analysis and is used to characterize candidate events, along with their source classification. The technical details and the implementation are described, as well as the results from the first half of the third observing run (O3a) published in GWTC-2.1. The performance of the method is assessed on injections of simulated gravitational-wave signals in O3a data using a parameterization of $p_{astro}$ as a function of the MBTA combined ranking statistic. Possible sources of statistical and systematic uncertainties are discussed, and their effect on $p_{astro}$ quantified.

arXiv comment14 pages, 13 figures

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• GWTC-3: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the Second Part of the Third Observing Run
• New binary black hole mergers in the LIGO--Virgo O3a data
• Template bank for compact binary mergers in the fourth observing run of Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo, and KAGRA
• Establishing significance of gravitational-wave signals from a single observatory in the PyCBC offline search
• The False Alarms induced by Gaussian Noise in Gravitational Wave Detectors
• Relative calibration of the LIGO and Virgo detectors using astrophysical events from their third observing run