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Main Authors: Hernandez, Ignacio Magaña, Ray, Anarya
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.02522
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author Hernandez, Ignacio Magaña
Ray, Anarya
author_facet Hernandez, Ignacio Magaña
Ray, Anarya
contents Gravitational wave standard sirens typically require electromagnetic (EM) data to obtain redshift information to constrain cosmology. Difficult to find EM counterparts for bright sirens and galaxy survey systematics for dark sirens make cosmological constraints with spectral sirens, a gravitational wave data-only approach, extremely appealing. In this work, we use the GWTC-3 BBH detections as spectral sirens to constrain the BBH population and the underlying cosmological expansion with a flexible model for the black hole mass spectrum. We use a binned Gaussian process to model the BBH mass distribution in the source frame without any astrophysical assumptions on the shape and or inclusion (or lack of) features that drive the cosmological constraints as the redshifted detector frame masses become consistent with the underlying astrophysical mass distribution features. For GWTC-3 we find a measurement on the Hubble constant of $H_0=73.0^{+13.3}_{-7.7} \ {\rm{km \ s^{-1} \ Mpc^{-1}}}$ at $68\%$ C.L. when combined with that obtained from the bright standard siren analysis with GW170817 and its associated host galaxy NGC 4993. We find an improved estimate for the Hubble constant of around a factor of 1.4 times better than the GW170817 measurement alone. We validate our nonparametric spectral siren approach with simulations and benchmark its scalability and constraining performance when compared with parametric methods.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2404_02522
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Beyond Gaps and Bumps: Spectral Siren Cosmology with Non-Parametric Population Models
Hernandez, Ignacio Magaña
Ray, Anarya
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Gravitational wave standard sirens typically require electromagnetic (EM) data to obtain redshift information to constrain cosmology. Difficult to find EM counterparts for bright sirens and galaxy survey systematics for dark sirens make cosmological constraints with spectral sirens, a gravitational wave data-only approach, extremely appealing. In this work, we use the GWTC-3 BBH detections as spectral sirens to constrain the BBH population and the underlying cosmological expansion with a flexible model for the black hole mass spectrum. We use a binned Gaussian process to model the BBH mass distribution in the source frame without any astrophysical assumptions on the shape and or inclusion (or lack of) features that drive the cosmological constraints as the redshifted detector frame masses become consistent with the underlying astrophysical mass distribution features. For GWTC-3 we find a measurement on the Hubble constant of $H_0=73.0^{+13.3}_{-7.7} \ {\rm{km \ s^{-1} \ Mpc^{-1}}}$ at $68\%$ C.L. when combined with that obtained from the bright standard siren analysis with GW170817 and its associated host galaxy NGC 4993. We find an improved estimate for the Hubble constant of around a factor of 1.4 times better than the GW170817 measurement alone. We validate our nonparametric spectral siren approach with simulations and benchmark its scalability and constraining performance when compared with parametric methods.
title Beyond Gaps and Bumps: Spectral Siren Cosmology with Non-Parametric Population Models
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.02522