A Transformer model for precessing binary black-hole merger waveforms calibrated to numerical relativity
Abstract
We present a Transformer model for merger-centered gravitational waveforms from precessing binary black holes. Given the mass ratio and two three-dimensional spin vectors, the network predicts quintic B-spline coefficients for all 21 signed spin-weighted spherical-harmonic strain modes through ℓ=4 on $[-1100,80]M$ (M being the total binary mass), enforcing binary-exchange and equatorial-reflection equivariance and yielding C4 waveforms in time with exact automatic differentiation. The model is pretrained on numerical-relativity (NR) waveforms from the SXS and RIT catalogues together with synthetic NRSur7dq4, SEOBNRv5PHM, and perturbative waveforms, and fine-tuned on SXS strain data. On 176 held-out SXS waveforms (165 physical systems), it achieves a mean balanced root-mean-square strain error of $0.023$ and a mean detector mismatch at 120 M⊙ of 0.059%.
Related
- Surrogate model of gravitational waveforms for quasi-circular, spin-aligned, asymmetric-mass black hole binaries based on the hybridization of WaSABI-C inspirals with numerical relativity waveforms
- NRHJSur3dq8: a spectral numerical-relativity surrogate family for non-eccentric aligned-spin binary-black-hole waveforms
- Tests of general relativity using analytic derivatives of parametrized post-Einsteinian gravitational waveforms within the Fisher-matrix framework
- A discontinuous Galerkin method with artificial viscosity geared toward numerical relativity applications
- Gravitational waves from core collapse of rotating very-massive stars: 3D numerical relativity computation
BibTeX
@misc{dong2026transformer,
title = {{A Transformer model for precessing binary black-hole merger waveforms calibrated to numerical relativity}},
author = {Jameson Dong},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2611.07223},
eprint = {2611.07223},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07223},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A Transformer model for precessing binary black-hole merger waveforms calibrated to numerical relativity
AU - Jameson Dong
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/04
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2611.07223
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07223
AB - We present a Transformer model for merger-centered gravitational waveforms from precessing binary black holes. Given the mass ratio and two three-dimensional spin vectors, the network predicts quintic B-spline coefficients for all 21 signed spin-weighted spherical-harmonic strain modes through ℓ=4 on $[-1100,80]M$ (M being the total binary mass), enforcing binary-exchange and equatorial-reflection equivariance and yielding C^4 waveforms in time with exact automatic differentiation. The model is pretrained on numerical-relativity (NR) waveforms from the SXS and RIT catalogues together with synthetic NRSur7dq4, SEOBNRv5PHM, and perturbative waveforms, and fine-tuned on SXS strain data. On 176 held-out SXS waveforms (165 physical systems), it achieves a mean balanced root-mean-square strain error of $0.023$ and a mean detector mismatch at 120 M_⊙ of 0.059%.
ER -