Analytic Marginalization Over Calibration Uncertainties in Gravitational Wave Inference and Application to Black Hole Ringdown
Abstract
The uncertain calibration of gravitational wave detectors is one source of systematic error in gravitational wave inference. While generally small, this uncertainty can be accounted for by modeling and marginalizing over calibration corrections. In this work we extend the standard frequency-domain approach to calibration marginalization to the time domain using basis splines, in such a way that the marginalization is analytic. We apply this method to the time-domain analysis of black hole ringdown, in particular the two highest signal-to-noise events detected so far, GW250114 and GW250207. For GW250114 we continue to find strong evidence for two ringdown modes, after marginalizing over the small calibration uncertainty at the time of the event. For GW250207, the calibration of the LIGO-Hanford detector was uncertain, and calibration marginalization is required for a coherent analysis using both LIGO detectors. We find that when calibration effects are included the remnant mass and spins inferred during ringdown agree with inferences from the full signal. Despite the high signal-to-noise of GW250207, we find no evidence for the presence of a second mode in the ringdown, and as a result deviations from relativity during ringdown are not well constrained.
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BibTeX
@misc{dzingeleski2026analytic,
title = {{Analytic Marginalization Over Calibration Uncertainties in Gravitational Wave Inference and Application to Black Hole Ringdown}},
author = {David Dzingeleski and Aaron Zimmerman},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2611.07023},
eprint = {2611.07023},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07023},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Analytic Marginalization Over Calibration Uncertainties in Gravitational Wave Inference and Application to Black Hole Ringdown
AU - David Dzingeleski
AU - Aaron Zimmerman
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/04
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2611.07023
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07023
AB - The uncertain calibration of gravitational wave detectors is one source of systematic error in gravitational wave inference. While generally small, this uncertainty can be accounted for by modeling and marginalizing over calibration corrections. In this work we extend the standard frequency-domain approach to calibration marginalization to the time domain using basis splines, in such a way that the marginalization is analytic. We apply this method to the time-domain analysis of black hole ringdown, in particular the two highest signal-to-noise events detected so far, GW250114 and GW250207. For GW250114 we continue to find strong evidence for two ringdown modes, after marginalizing over the small calibration uncertainty at the time of the event. For GW250207, the calibration of the LIGO-Hanford detector was uncertain, and calibration marginalization is required for a coherent analysis using both LIGO detectors. We find that when calibration effects are included the remnant mass and spins inferred during ringdown agree with inferences from the full signal. Despite the high signal-to-noise of GW250207, we find no evidence for the presence of a second mode in the ringdown, and as a result deviations from relativity during ringdown are not well constrained.
ER -