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The astrophysical odds of GW151216.
- Source :
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 10/30/2020, Vol. 498 Issue 2, p1905-1910. 6p. - Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- The gravitational-wave candidate GW151216 is a proposed binary black hole event from the first observing run of the Advanced LIGO detectors. Not identified as a bona fide signal by the LIGO–Virgo collaboration, there is disagreement as to its authenticity, which is quantified by p astro, the probability that the event is astrophysical in origin. Previous estimates of p astro from different groups range from 0.18 to 0.71, making it unclear whether this event should be included in population analyses, which typically require p astro > 0.5. Whether GW151216 is an astrophysical signal or not has implications for the population properties of stellar-mass black holes and hence the evolution of massive stars. Using the astrophysical odds, a Bayesian method that uses the signal coherence between detectors and a parametrized model of non-astrophysical detector noise, we find that p astro = 0.03, suggesting that GW151216 is unlikely to be a genuine signal. We also analyse GW150914 (the first gravitational-wave detection) and GW151012 (initially considered to be an ambiguous detection) and find p astro values of 1 and 0.997, respectively. We argue that the astrophysical odds presented here improve upon traditional methods for distinguishing signals from noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *BINARY black holes
*SUPERGIANT stars
*BLACK holes
*STELLAR evolution
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00358711
- Volume :
- 498
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 146246743
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa2332