A Catalog-Wide Study of Gravitational-Wave Residuals in GWTC-4 and GWTC-5
Abstract
Improved sensitivity of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA detectors has enabled the accumulation of a large gravitational-wave event catalog, providing an opportunity for catalog-wide residual analyses to assess waveform-model performance. We study GWTC-4 and GWTC-5 events with signal-to-noise ratio >12 in at least one detector, applying three goodness-of-fit tests to the normalized Q-transform energies of whitened residuals obtained by subtracting the IMRPhenomXPHM and SEOBNRv5PHM waveform models. Across the catalog, the residuals are consistent with Gaussian noise, with no evidence of systematic deviations in either multi-detector events or valid single-detector events. For events exhibiting strong model dependence in parameter estimation, variations between waveform models likewise do not produce persistent residual structures. These results demonstrate that parameter-estimation biases associated with waveform modeling do not necessarily manifest as detectable features in the residuals. Residual analyses therefore provide a complementary diagnostic in data space for validating gravitational-wave waveform models within the detector sensitivity.
Related
- GWTC-5.0: Methods for Identifying and Characterizing Gravitational-wave Transients
- GWTC-5.0: Constraints on the Cosmic Expansion Rate and Modified Gravitational-wave Propagation
- Constraining the gravitational-wave breathing mode with LVK antenna patterns and GWTC data
- Constraints on the Cosmic Expansion Rate Using the DECam Local Volume Exploration Survey and the Fifth Gravitational Wave Transient Catalog
- Searching for Extra Dimensions with Gravitational Waves: Dark-Siren Constraints from GWTC-4
BibTeX
@misc{qin2026catalogwide,
title = {{A Catalog-Wide Study of Gravitational-Wave Residuals in GWTC-4 and GWTC-5}},
author = {Junlin Qin and Zhan-Feng Mai and Dicong Liang and Hai-Tian Wang and En-Wei Liang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.28146},
eprint = {2609.28146},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.28146},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A Catalog-Wide Study of Gravitational-Wave Residuals in GWTC-4 and GWTC-5
AU - Junlin Qin
AU - Zhan-Feng Mai
AU - Dicong Liang
AU - Hai-Tian Wang
AU - En-Wei Liang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.28146
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.28146
AB - Improved sensitivity of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA detectors has enabled the accumulation of a large gravitational-wave event catalog, providing an opportunity for catalog-wide residual analyses to assess waveform-model performance. We study GWTC-4 and GWTC-5 events with signal-to-noise ratio >12 in at least one detector, applying three goodness-of-fit tests to the normalized Q-transform energies of whitened residuals obtained by subtracting the IMRPhenomXPHM and SEOBNRv5PHM waveform models. Across the catalog, the residuals are consistent with Gaussian noise, with no evidence of systematic deviations in either multi-detector events or valid single-detector events. For events exhibiting strong model dependence in parameter estimation, variations between waveform models likewise do not produce persistent residual structures. These results demonstrate that parameter-estimation biases associated with waveform modeling do not necessarily manifest as detectable features in the residuals. Residual analyses therefore provide a complementary diagnostic in data space for validating gravitational-wave waveform models within the detector sensitivity.
ER -