Avoiding selection bias in gravitational wave astronomy
When searching for gravitational waves in the data from ground-based gravitational wave detectors, it is common to use a detection threshold to reduce the number of background events which are unlikely to be the signals of interest. However, imposing such a threshold will also discard some real sign...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2013-01-01
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| Series: | New Journal of Physics |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/15/5/053027 |
| _version_ | 1797751663904161792 |
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| author | C Messenger J Veitch |
| author_facet | C Messenger J Veitch |
| author_sort | C Messenger |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | When searching for gravitational waves in the data from ground-based gravitational wave detectors, it is common to use a detection threshold to reduce the number of background events which are unlikely to be the signals of interest. However, imposing such a threshold will also discard some real signals with low amplitude, which can potentially bias any inferences drawn from the population of detected signals. We show how this selection bias is naturally avoided by using the full information from the search, considering both the selected data and our ignorance of the data that are thrown away, and considering all relevant signal and noise models. This approach produces unbiased estimates of parameters even in the presence of false alarms and incomplete data. This can be seen as an extension of previous methods into the high false rate regime where we are able to show that the quality of parameter inference can be optimized by lowering thresholds and increasing the false alarm rate. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:51:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9b7b8dadafa74bc7b3c45f9ae02ca24d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1367-2630 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:51:49Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | New Journal of Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-9b7b8dadafa74bc7b3c45f9ae02ca24d2023-08-08T11:09:00ZengIOP PublishingNew Journal of Physics1367-26302013-01-0115505302710.1088/1367-2630/15/5/053027Avoiding selection bias in gravitational wave astronomyC Messenger0J Veitch1School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University , Queen's Buildings, The Parade, Cardif, Wales CF24 3AA, UKNikhef, Science Park 105, Amsterdam 1098-XG, NetherlandsWhen searching for gravitational waves in the data from ground-based gravitational wave detectors, it is common to use a detection threshold to reduce the number of background events which are unlikely to be the signals of interest. However, imposing such a threshold will also discard some real signals with low amplitude, which can potentially bias any inferences drawn from the population of detected signals. We show how this selection bias is naturally avoided by using the full information from the search, considering both the selected data and our ignorance of the data that are thrown away, and considering all relevant signal and noise models. This approach produces unbiased estimates of parameters even in the presence of false alarms and incomplete data. This can be seen as an extension of previous methods into the high false rate regime where we are able to show that the quality of parameter inference can be optimized by lowering thresholds and increasing the false alarm rate.https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/15/5/053027 |
| spellingShingle | C Messenger J Veitch Avoiding selection bias in gravitational wave astronomy New Journal of Physics |
| title | Avoiding selection bias in gravitational wave astronomy |
| title_full | Avoiding selection bias in gravitational wave astronomy |
| title_fullStr | Avoiding selection bias in gravitational wave astronomy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Avoiding selection bias in gravitational wave astronomy |
| title_short | Avoiding selection bias in gravitational wave astronomy |
| title_sort | avoiding selection bias in gravitational wave astronomy |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/15/5/053027 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT cmessenger avoidingselectionbiasingravitationalwaveastronomy AT jveitch avoidingselectionbiasingravitationalwaveastronomy |