Parameter inference for coalescing massive black hole binaries using deep learning

Abstract

In the 2030s, a new era of gravitational-wave (GW) observations will dawn as multiple space-based GW detectors, such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, Taiji and TianQin, open the millihertz window for GW astronomy. These detectors are poised to detect a multitude of GW signals emitted by different sources. It is a challenging task for GW data analysis to recover the parameters of these sources at a low computational cost. Generally, the matched filtering approach entails exploring an extensive parameter space for all resolvable sources, incurring a substantial cost owing to the generation of GW waveform templates. To alleviate the challenge, we make an attempt to perform parameter inference for coalescing massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) using deep learning. The model trained in this work has the capability to produce 50,000 posterior samples for redshifted total mass, mass ratio, coalescence time and luminosity distance of a MBHB in about twenty seconds. Our model can serve as a potent data pre-processing tool, reducing the volume of parameter space by more than four orders of magnitude for MBHB signals with a signal-to-noise ratio larger than 100. Moreover, the model exhibits robustness when handling input data that contains multiple MBHB signals.