Impact of the Einstein Telescope's duty cycle on the estimation of binary black holes parameters
Abstract
The geometry of the Einstein Telescope, the proposed next-generation European gravitational-wave observatory, is yet to be finalized. Two competing designs are under consideration: a nested triangular configuration (ET-Δ) and two separated L-shaped detectors (ET-2L). Extensive prior comparisons of ET designs established the scientific landscape using the Fisher-information-matrix formalism and identified that duty-cycle-induced single-detector operation is precisely the regime where this approximation becomes less reliable, underscoring the need for a refined, principled treatment of the duty cycle. In this manuscript, we build on that foundation by revisiting the comparison with full Bayesian parameter estimation of gravitational-wave signals from binary black-hole mergers, projected onto a simulated Einstein Telescope that incorporates a refined duty cycle modelled via continuous-time Markov chains and testing different detector maintenance strategies. We find that the redundancy inherent in the ET-Δ design enables it to maintain at least two operational detectors for the majority of the observing time, whereas the ET-2L configuration is often limited to a single detector. Crucially, we show that, during partial network operation, ET-Δ often outperforms ET-2L, and that the increased multi-detector uptime translates into tighter constraints on the luminosity distance and source-frame component masses. Notably, this remains true even when gravitational-wave events have a lower signal-to-noise ratio in ET-Δ than in ET-2L.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{negri2026impact,
title = {{Impact of the Einstein Telescope's duty cycle on the estimation of binary black holes parameters}},
author = {Luca Negri and Thomas C. K. Ng and Thibeau Wouters and Tim J. Kuhlbusch and Harsh Narola and Robin Chan and Kailib Ryan Doney and Francesco Cireddu and Isaac C. F. Wong and Fabian Gittins and Peter T. H. Pang and Anuradha Samajdar and Achim Stahl and Justin Janquart and Chris Van Den Broeck and Tjonnie G. F. Li},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2606.19201},
eprint = {2606.19201},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.19201},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Impact of the Einstein Telescope's duty cycle on the estimation of binary black holes parameters
AU - Luca Negri
AU - Thomas C. K. Ng
AU - Thibeau Wouters
AU - Tim J. Kuhlbusch
AU - Harsh Narola
AU - Robin Chan
AU - Kailib Ryan Doney
AU - Francesco Cireddu
AU - Isaac C. F. Wong
AU - Fabian Gittins
AU - Peter T. H. Pang
AU - Anuradha Samajdar
AU - Achim Stahl
AU - Justin Janquart
AU - Chris Van Den Broeck
AU - Tjonnie G. F. Li
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/14
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2606.19201
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.19201
AB - The geometry of the Einstein Telescope, the proposed next-generation European gravitational-wave observatory, is yet to be finalized. Two competing designs are under consideration: a nested triangular configuration (ET-Δ) and two separated L-shaped detectors (ET-2L). Extensive prior comparisons of ET designs established the scientific landscape using the Fisher-information-matrix formalism and identified that duty-cycle-induced single-detector operation is precisely the regime where this approximation becomes less reliable, underscoring the need for a refined, principled treatment of the duty cycle. In this manuscript, we build on that foundation by revisiting the comparison with full Bayesian parameter estimation of gravitational-wave signals from binary black-hole mergers, projected onto a simulated Einstein Telescope that incorporates a refined duty cycle modelled via continuous-time Markov chains and testing different detector maintenance strategies. We find that the redundancy inherent in the ET-Δ design enables it to maintain at least two operational detectors for the majority of the observing time, whereas the ET-2L configuration is often limited to a single detector. Crucially, we show that, during partial network operation, ET-Δ often outperforms ET-2L, and that the increased multi-detector uptime translates into tighter constraints on the luminosity distance and source-frame component masses. Notably, this remains true even when gravitational-wave events have a lower signal-to-noise ratio in ET-Δ than in ET-2L.
ER -