arXiv subjects

Cecilio García-Quirós

Publications and source records attributed to Cecilio García-Quirós.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Parity symmetry as a diagnostic for spin-precessing binary-black-hole waveform models

Parity invariance of general relativity imposes exact relations between waveforms and remnant properties of binary-black-hole configurations related by reversal of the in-plane spins and observer direction. We summarize these relations and construct consistency tests for spin-precessing waveform and remnant models. Applying a conservative, unmaximized overlap diagnostic to seven state-of-the-art waveform models, we find that models built from aligned-spin calibrated waveforms and parity-covariant precession dynamics satisfy the symmetry to numerical precision. The original \texttt{IMRPhenomXO4a} and \texttt{IMRPhenomXPNR} implementations instead exhibit median parity residuals of approximately $1.6\times10^{-3}$ with broad upper tails, while \texttt{NRSur7dq4} shows its largest violations at high mass ratio and large spin magnitude. The asymmetric extension of \texttt{SEOBNRv5PHM} exhibits a smaller, localized violation, while \texttt{NRSur7dq4Remnant} shows larger residuals in the recoil than in the final mass and spin. We trace these violations to an observer-dependent phase anchor in the \texttt{IMRPhenom} antisymmetric mode, non-invariant parameterization of the \texttt{NRSur7dq4} surrogate fits, and one non-invariant NR-calibrated coefficient in the asymmetric \texttt{SEOBNRv5PHM} extension. Local corrections restore waveform parity to numerical precision for the \texttt{IMRPhenom} and \texttt{SEOBNRv5PHM} cases; restoring it in \texttt{NRSur7dq4} requires refitting the surrogate. Reanalyses of eight GWTC-5.0 events show no qualitative change in astrophysical interpretation, although the \texttt{IMRPhenom} correction yields Jensen-Shannon divergences up to $5\times10^{-2}$ in individual marginalized posteriors. Exact symmetries thus provide inexpensive, model-independent consistency tests and should be imposed by construction in calibrated waveform models.

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arXiv2025

GPU-accelerated LISA parameter estimation with full time domain response

We conduct the first full Bayesian inference analysis for LISA parameter estimation incorporating the effects of subdominant harmonics and spin-precession through a full time domain response. The substantial computational demands of using time domain waveforms for LISA are significantly mitigated by implementing a novel Python version of the IMRPhenomT family of waveform models and the LISA response with GPU acceleration. This time domain response alleviates the theoretical necessity of developing specific transfer functions to approximate the LISA response in the Fourier domain for each specific type of system and allows for the use of unequal arms configurations and realistic LISA orbits. Our analysis includes a series of zero-noise injections for a Massive Black Hole Binary with aligned and precessing spins. We investigate the impact of including subdominant harmonics, compare equal and unequal arm configurations, and analyze different Time-Delay-Interferometry (TDI) configurations. We utilize full and uniform priors, with a lower frequency cutoff of 0.1mHz, and a signal duration of approximately two months, sampled every 5 seconds. The sampler is initialized based on Fisher estimates. Our results demonstrate LISA capability to measure the two spin magnitudes and the primary spin tilt angle, alongside sky localization, with percent-level precision, while component masses are determined with sub-percent accuracy.

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arXiv2025

PhenomXPNR: An improved gravitational wave model linking precessing inspirals and NR-calibrated merger-ringdown

We present the frequency-domain quasi-circular precessing binary-black-hole model PhenomXPNR. This model combines the most precise available post-Newtonian description of the evolution of the precession dynamics through inspiral with merger-ringdown model informed by numerical relativity. This, along with a phenomenological model of the dominant multipole asymmetries, results in the most accurate and complete representation of the physics of precessing binaries natively in the frequency-domain to date. All state-of-the-art precessing models show bias when inferring binary parameters in certain regions of the parameter space. We demonstrate that the developments presented ensure that for some precessing systems PhenomXPNR shows the least degree of bias. Further, as a phenomenological, frequency-domain model, PhenomXPNR remains one of the most computationally efficient models available and is therefore well-suited to the era of gravitational-wave astronomy with its ever growing rate of detected signals.

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arXiv2025

Eccentric or circular? A reanalysis of binary black hole gravitational wave events for orbital eccentricity signatures

We present a reanalysis of 17 gravitational-wave events detected with Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo in their first three observing runs, using the new IMRPhenomTEHM model -- a phenomenological time-domain multipolar waveform model for aligned-spin black-hole binaries in elliptical orbits with two eccentric parameters: eccentricity and mean anomaly. We also analyze all events with the underlying quasi-circular model IMRPhenomTHM to study the impact of including eccentricity and compare the eccentric and quasi-circular binary hypotheses. The high computational efficiency of IMRPhenomTEHM enables us to explore the impact of two different eccentricity priors -- uniform and log-uniform -- as well as different sampler and data settings. We find evidence for eccentricity in two publicly available LVK events, GW200129 and GW200208_22, with Bayes factors favoring the eccentric hypothesis over the quasi-circular aligned-spin scenario: $\log_{10}\mathcal{B}_{\mathrm{E/QC}}\in\left[1.30^{+0.15}_{-0.15}, 5.14^{+0.15}_{-0.15}\right]$ and $\log_{10}\mathcal{B}_{\mathrm{E/QC}}\in\left[0.49^{+0.08}_{-0.08}, 1.14^{+0.08}_{-0.08}\right]$, respectively. Additionally, the two high-mass events GW190701 and GW190929 exhibit potential eccentric features. For all four events, we conduct further analyses to study the impact of different sampler settings. We also investigate waveform systematics by exploring the support for spin precession using IMRPhenomTPHM and NRSur7dq4, offering new insights into the formation channels of detected binaries. Our results highlight the importance of considering eccentric waveform models in future observing runs, alongside precessing models, as they can help mitigate potential biases in parameter estimation studies. This will be particularly relevant with the expected increase in the diversity of the binary black hole population with new detectors.

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arXiv2025

Time-domain phenomenological multipolar waveforms for aligned-spin binary black holes in elliptical orbits

We introduce IMRPhenomTEHM, a new phenomenological time-domain model for eccentric aligned-spin binary black holes. Building upon the accurate quasi-circular IMRPhenomTHM model, IMRPhenomTEHM integrates the eccentric post-Newtonian (PN) dynamics and introduces eccentric corrections into the waveform multipoles up to 3PN, including spin effects. The model incorporates the dominant (2, $\pm$2) spherical harmonic mode, as well as the subdominant modes (2, $\pm$1), (3, $\pm$3), (4, $\pm$4), and (5, $\pm$5), assuming the binary has circularized by the time of merger. This approach ensures a smooth transition to the non-eccentric limit, providing an accurate quasi-circular limit against the IMRPhenomTHM model. When comparing against 28 public eccentric numerical relativity simulations from the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes catalog, IMRPhenomTEHM achieves lower than 2% unfaithfulness, confirming its accurate description without calibration to numerical relativity eccentric datasets. IMRPhenomTEHM provides a reliable description of the evolution of eccentric black hole binaries with aligned spins and eccentricities lower than $e=0.4$ at a frequency of 10 Hz, making it suitable for upcoming gravitational-wave observing runs. We validate the model's accuracy through parameter estimation studies, recovering injected parameters within 90% credible intervals for three numerical relativity eccentric simulations and reanalyzing GW150914 and GW190521, obtaining results consistent with the literature.

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arXiv2024

Fast frequency-domain gravitational waveforms for precessing binaries with a new twist

Gravitational waveform (GW) models are a core ingredient for the analysis of compact binary mergers observed by current ground-based interferometers. We focus here on a specific class of such models known as PhenomX, which has gained popularity in recent years thanks to its computational efficiency. We introduce a new description of the ``twisting-up'' mapping underpinning the construction of precessing waveforms within this family. The new description is an adaptation to the frequency domain of a technique previously implemented in time-domain models, where the orbit-averaged post-Newtonian spin-precession dynamics is numerically solved on the fly. We also present an improved version of the gravitational-wave strain amplitudes approximating the signal in the co-precessing frame. We demonstrate that the new description yields improved matches against numerical relativity simulations, with only a modest computational overhead. We also show that the new model can be reliably employed in parameter estimation follow-ups of GW events, returning equivalent or more stringent measurements of the source properties compared to its predecessor.

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arXiv2024

Enhancing Gravitational Wave Parameter Estimation with Non-Linear Memory: Breaking the Distance-Inclination Degeneracy

In this study, we investigate the role of the non-linear memory effect in gravitational wave (GW) parameter estimation, particularly we explore its capability to break the degeneracy between luminosity distance and inclination angle in binary coalescence events. Motivated by the rapid growth in GW detections and the increasing sensitivity of GW observatories enhancing the precision of cosmological and astrophysical measurements is crucial. We propose leveraging the non-linear memory effect -- a subtle, persistent feature in the GW signal resulting from the cumulative impact of emitted gravitational waves -- as a novel approach to enhance parameter estimation accuracy. Through a comprehensive series of injection studies, encompassing both reduced and full parameter spaces, we evaluate the effectiveness of non-linear memory in various scenarios for aligned-spin systems. Our findings demonstrate the significant potential of non-linear memory in resolving the inclination-distance degeneracy, particularly for events with high signal-to-noise ratios (SNR $>$ 90) for the current generation of detectors or closer than 1 Gpc in the context of future detector sensitivities such as the planned LIGO A$^\sharp$ upgrade. The results also suggest that excluding non-linear memory from parameter estimation could introduce significant systematics in future LIGO A$^\sharp$ detections. This observation will hold even greater weight for next-generation detectors, highlighting the importance of including non-linear memory in GW models for achieving high-accuracy measurements for gravitational wave (GW) astronomy.

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arXiv2022

Parameter estimation with the current generation of phenomenological waveform models applied to the black hole mergers of GWTC-1

We consider the ten confidently detected gravitational-wave signals in the GWTC-1 catalog which are consistent with mergers of binary black hole systems, and perform a thorough parameter estimation re-analysis. This is made possible by using computationally efficient waveform models of the current (fourth) generation of the IMRPhenom family of phenomenological waveform models, which consists of the IMRPhenomX frequency-domain modelsand the IMRPhenomT time-domain models. The analysis is performed with both precessing and non-precessing waveform models with and without subdominant spherical harmonic modes. Results for all events are validated with convergence tests, discussing in particular the events GW170729 and GW151226. For the latter and the other two lowest-mass events, we also compare results between two independent sampling codes, Bilby and LALInference. We find overall consistent results with the original GWTC-1 results, with all Jensen-Shannon divergences between the previous results using IMRPhenomPv2 and our default IMRPhenomXPHM posteriors below 0.045 bits, but we also discuss cases where including subdominant harmonics and/or precession influences the posteriors.

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arXiv2021

A detailed analysis of GW190521 with phenomenological waveform models

In this paper we present an extensive analysis of the GW190521 gravitational wave event with the current (fourth) generation of phenomenological waveform models for binary black hole coalescences. GW190521 stands out from other events since only a few wave cycles are observable. This leads to a number of challenges, one being that such short signals are prone to not resolve approximate waveform degeneracies, which may result in multi-modal posterior distributions. The family of waveform models we use includes a new fast time-domain model IMRPhenomTPHM, which allows us extensive tests of different priors and robustness with respect to variations in the waveform model, including the content of spherical harmonic modes. We clarify some issues raised in a recent paper [Nitz&Capano], associated with possible support for a high-mass ratio source, but confirm their finding of a multi-modal posterior distribution, albeit with important differences in the statistical significance of the peaks. In particular, we find that the support for both masses being outside the PISN mass-gap, and the support for an intermediate mass ratio binary are drastically reduced with respect to what Nitz&Capano found. We also provide updated probabilities for associating GW190521 to the potential electromagnetic counterpart from ZTF.

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arXiv2021

New twists in compact binary waveform modelling: a fast time domain model for precession

We present IMRPhenomTPHM, a phenomenological model for the gravitational wave signals emitted by the coalescence of quasi-circular precessing binary black holes systems. The model is based on the "twisting up" approximation, which maps non-precessing signals to precessing ones in terms of a time dependent rotation described by three Euler angles, and which has been utilized in several frequency domain waveform models that have become standard tools in gravitational wave data analysis. Our model is however constructed in the time domain, which allows several improvements over the frequency domain models: we do not use the stationary phase approximation, we employ a simple approximation for the precessing Euler angles for the ringdown signal, and we implement a new method for computing the Euler angles through the evolution of the spin dynamics of the system, which is more accurate and also computationally efficient.

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arXiv2021

Computationally efficient models for the dominant and sub-dominant harmonic modes of precessing binary black holes

We present IMRPhenomXPHM, a phenomenological frequency-domain model for the gravitational-wave signal emitted by quasi-circular precessing binary black holes, which incorporates multipoles beyond the dominant quadrupole in the precessing frame. The model is a precessing extension of IMRPhenomXHM (García-Quirós 2020), based on approximate maps between aligned-spin waveform modes in the co-precessing frame and precessing waveform modes in the inertial frame, which is commonly referred to as "twisting up" the non-precessing waveforms. IMRPhenomXPHM includes IMRPhenomXP as a special case, the restriction to the dominant quadrupole contribution in the co-precessing frame. We implement two alternative mappings, one based on a single-spin PN approximation, as used in IMRPhenomPv2 (Hannam 2013), and one based on the double-spin MSA approach (Chatziioannou 2017). We include a detailed discussion of conventions used in the description of precessing binaries and of all choices made in constructing the model. The computational cost of \phXPHM is further reduced by extending the interpolation technique of (C. García-Quirós 2020) to the Euler angles. The accuracy, speed, robustness and modularity of the IMRPhenomX family will make these models productive tools for gravitational wave astronomy in the current era of greatly increased number and diversity of detected events.

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arXiv2020

Time domain phenomenological model of gravitational wave subdominant harmonics for quasi-circular non-precessing binary black hole coalescences

In this work we present an extension of the time domain phenomenological model IMRPhenomT for gravitational wave signals from binary black hole coalescences to include subdominant harmonics, specifically the $(l=2, m=\pm 1)$, $(l=3, m=\pm 3)$, $(l=4, m=\pm 4)$ and $(l=5, m=\pm 5)$ spherical harmonics. We also improve our model for the dominant $(l=2, m=\pm 2)$ mode and discuss mode mixing for the $(l=3, m=\pm 2)$ mode. The model is calibrated to numerical relativity solutions of the full Einstein equations up to mass ratio 18, and to numerical solutions of the Teukolsky equations for higher mass ratios. This work complements the latest generation of traditional frequency domain phenomenological models (IMRPhenomX), and provides new avenues to develop computationally efficient models for gravitational wave signals from generic compact binaries.

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arXiv2020

IMRPhenomXHM: A multi-mode frequency-domain model for the gravitational wave signal from non-precessing black-hole binaries

We present the IMRPhenomXHM frequency domain phenomenological waveform model for the inspiral, merger and ringdown of quasi-circular non-precessing black hole binaries. The model extends the IMRPhenomXAS waveform model, which describes the dominant quadrupole modes $\ell = |m| = 2$, to the harmonics $(\ell, |m|)=(2,1), (3,3), (3,2), (4,4)$, and includes mode mixing effects for the $(3,2)$ spherical harmonic. IMRPhenomXHM is calibrated against hybrid waveforms, which match an inspiral phase described by the effective-one-body model and post-Newtonian amplitudes for the subdominant harmonics to numerical relativity waveforms and numerical solutions to the perturbative Teukolsky equation for large mass ratios up to 1000. A computationally efficient implementation of the model is available as part of the LSC Algorithm Library Suite.

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arXiv2020

Towards the routine use of subdominant harmonics in gravitational-wave inference: re-analysis of GW190412 with generation X waveform models

We re-analyse the gravitational-wave event GW190412 with state-of-the-art phenomenological waveform models. This event, which has been associated with a black hole merger, is interesting due to the significant contribution from subdominant harmonics. We use both frequency-domain and time-domain waveform models. The PhenomX waveform models constitute the fourth generation of frequency-domain phenomenological waveforms for black hole binary coalescence; they have more recently been complemented by the time-domain PhenomT models, which open up new strategies to model precession and eccentricity, and to perform tests of general relativity with the phenomenological waveforms approach. Both PhenomX and PhenomT have been constructed with similar techniques and accuracy goals, and due to their computational efficiency this "generation X" model family allows the routine use of subdominant spherical harmonics in Bayesian inference. We show the good agreement between these and other state-of-the-art waveform models for GW190412, and discuss the improvements over the previous generation of phenomenological waveform models. We also discuss practical aspects of Bayesian inference such as run convergence, variations of sampling parameters, and computational cost.

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arXiv2020

IMRPhenomTP: A phenomenological time domain model for dominant quadrupole gravitational wave signal of coalescing binary black holes

In this work we present IMRPhenomTP, a time domain phenomenological model for the dominant $l=2$, $m=|2|$ modes of coalescing black hole binary systems and its extension to describe general precessing systems within the "twisting up" approximation. The underlying non-precessing model is calibrated to the new release of Numerical Relativity simulations of the SXS Collaboration and its accuracy is comparable to the state-of-the-art non-precessing dominant mode models as IMRPhenomX and SEOBNRv4. The precessing extension allows for flexibility choosing the Euler angles of the time-dependent rotation between the co-precessing and the inertial reference systems, including the single spin NNLO and the double spin MSA PN descriptions present in other models, numerical integration of the orbit averaged spin evolution equations, different choices for the evolution of the orbital angular momentum norm and a simple approximation to the ringdown behaviour.

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arXiv2020

A first survey of spinning eccentric black hole mergers: Numerical relativity simulations, hybrid waveforms, and parameter estimation

We analyze a new numerical relativity dataset of spinning but nonprecessing binary black holes on eccentric orbits, with eccentricities from approximately $0.1$ to $0.5$, with dimensionless spins up to $0.75$ included at mass ratios $q=m_1/m_2 = (1, 2)$, and further nonspinning binaries at mass ratios $q = (1.5, 3, 4)$. A comparison of the final mass and spin of these simulations with noneccentric data extends previous results in the literature on circularization of eccentric binaries to the spinning case. For the $(l,m)=(2,2)$ spin-weighted spherical harmonic mode we construct eccentric hybrid waveforms that connect the numerical relativity data to a post-Newtonian description for the inspiral, and we discuss the limitations in the current knowledge about post-Newtonian theory which complicate the generation of eccentric hybrid waveforms. We also perform a Bayesian parameter estimation study, quantifying the parameter biases introduced when using three different quasicircular waveform models to estimate the parameters of highly eccentric binary systems. We find that the used aligned-spin quasicircular model including higher order modes produces lower bias in certain parameters than the nonprecessing quasicircular model without higher order modes and the quasicircular precessing model.

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arXiv2020

Accelerating the evaluation of inspiral-merger-ringdown waveforms with adapted grids

This paper presents an algorithm to accelerate the evaluation of inspiral-merger-ringdown waveform models for gravitational wave data analysis. While the idea can also be applied in the time domain, here we focus on the frequency domain, which is most typically used to reduced computational cost in gravitational wave data analysis. Our work extends the idea of multibanding, which has been developed to accelerate frequency domain waveforms, to include the merger and ringdown and spherical harmonics beyond the dominant quadrupole spherical harmonic. The original method is based on a heuristic algorithm based on the inspiral to de-refine the equi-spaced frequency grid used for data analysis where a coarser grid is sufficient for accurate evaluation of a waveform model. Here we use a different criterion, based on the local interpolation error, which is more flexible and can easily be adapted to general waveforms, if their phenomenology is understood. We discuss our implementation in the LIGO Algorithm Library for the PhenomXHM frequency domain model, and report the acceleration in different parts of the parameter space of compact binary systems.

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