Deep follow-up for gravitational-wave inference: a case study with GW151226
arXiv:2203.13406 · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acbdf4
Abstract
New analyses of gravitational wave events raise questions about the nature of some events. For example, LIGO--Virgo--KAGRA initially determined GW151226 to be a merger with a mass-ratio and effective inspiral spin . However, recent works offer an alternative picture: GW151226 is a lower-mass-ratio event with slightly higher spin . This discrepancy has been challenging to resolve as a wide range of differences are employed for each analysis. This work introduces a ``deep follow-up'' framework to efficiently compute the posterior odds between two different peaks in parameter space. In doing so, we aim to help resolve disputes about the true nature of gravitational-wave events associated with conflicting astrophysical interpretations. Our proposal is not a replacement for standard inference techniques; instead, our method provides a diagnostic tool to understand discrepancies between conflicting results. We demonstrate this method by studying three {-} peaks proposed for GW151226. We find the interpretation is only slightly preferred over the hypothesis with a posterior odds of , suggesting that neither of the two peaks can be ruled out. We discuss strategies to produce more reliable parameter estimation studies in gravitational-wave astronomy.
arXiv comment9 pages, 3 figures
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