Events

Date: 3 February 2026   Time: 14:30 - 15:30

Location: MB503

This event is postponed due to speaker illness, further details to follow.

NOTE: Pre talk intro for non experts starts at 2pm, with seminar starting at 2.30pm

Title: Bridging Simulation and Inference: Numerical relativity informed Bayesian analyses

Abstract: Inferring the properties of colliding black holes from gravitational-wave observations is subject to systematic errors arising from modelling uncertainties. Although the accuracy of each model can be calculated through comparison to theoretical expectations from general relativity, Bayesian analyses are yet to incorporate this information. As such, a mixture model is typically used where results obtained with different gravitational-wave models are combined with either equal weight, or based on their relative Bayesian evidence. In this talk, I will present a novel method to incorporate the accuracy of multiple models in gravitational-wave Bayesian analyses by including known numerical relativity solutions. By analysing simulated gravitational-wave signals in zero-noise, I will show that this technique uses 30% less computational resources, and more faithfully recovers the true parameters than existing techniques. I will further present results from applying this technique to real gravitational-wave signals observed by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration.