arXiv:2408.12764v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will observe gravitational-wave signals from a wide range of sources, including massive black hole binaries. Although numerous techniques have been developed to perform Bayesian inference for LISA, they are often computationally expensive; analyses often take at least $sim 1$ month on a single CPU, even when using accelerated techniques. Not only does this make it difficult to concurrently analyse more than one gravitational-wave signal, it also makes it challenging to rapidly produce parameter estimates for possible electromagnetic follow-up campaigns. simple-pe was recently developed to produce rapid parameter estimates for gravitational-wave signals observed with ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. In this work, we extend simple-pe to produce rapid parameter estimates for LISA sources, including the effects of higher order multipole moments. We show that simple-pe infers the source properties of massive black hole binaries in zero-noise at least $sim 100times$ faster than existing techniques; $sim 12$ hours on a single CPU. We further demonstrate that simple-pe can be applied before existing Bayesian techniques to mitigate biases in multi-modal parameter estimation analyses of MBHBs.
LISA and Bayesian Inference
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a telescope that will observe gravitational-wave signals from various sources, including massive black hole binaries. Bayesian inference has been the preferred method for analyzing LISA data, but it is computationally expensive, often taking around one month on a single CPU.
Challenges and Opportunities
- Computational Challenges: The long processing time for Bayesian inference makes it difficult to analyze multiple gravitational-wave signals simultaneously and hinders rapid parameter estimates for possible electromagnetic follow-up campaigns.
- Opportunity for Efficiency: The recent development of simple-pe, a tool for rapid parameter estimation with ground-based gravitational-wave detectors, presents an opportunity to extend its functionality to LISA sources.
Roadmap: The Future of simple-pe
- Faster Inference for LISA Sources: The simple-pe tool is extended to include the effects of higher order multipole moments, enabling it to produce rapid parameter estimates for massive black hole binaries observed by LISA.
- Significant Speed Improvement: The study shows that simple-pe can infer the source properties of massive black hole binaries in zero-noise at least 100 times faster than existing techniques, requiring only around 12 hours on a single CPU.
- Mitigating Biases: simple-pe can be used before existing Bayesian techniques to mitigate biases in multi-modal parameter estimation analyses of massive black hole binaries.
Conclusion
In summary, the development and application of simple-pe for LISA sources provide a faster and more efficient method for analyzing gravitational-wave data. This advancement will enable researchers to analyze and estimate parameters of multiple signals concurrently and expedite the production of parameter estimates for electromagnetic follow-up campaigns. Additionally, simple-pe can be used to address biases in existing Bayesian techniques. Overall, this roadmap opens up new possibilities for gravitational-wave research and enhances scientific understanding of massive black hole binaries.