Detecting compact binary coalescences with seedless clustering

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that seedless clustering is an effective, robust, and computationally efficient alternative method for detecting low-mass compact binary coalescences, including spinning and eccentric systems, in gravitational wave data.

Contribution

It applies seedless clustering to low-mass binary coalescence detection, expanding its use beyond long-lived transients and providing a redundancy to matched filtering.

Findings

Seedless clustering effectively detects low-mass binary coalescences.

The method is robust against modeling errors and assumptions.

It offers computational efficiency compared to traditional methods.

Abstract

Compact binary coalescences are a promising source of gravitational waves for second-generation interferometric gravitational-wave detectors. Although matched filtering is the optimal search method for well-modeled systems, alternative detection strategies can be used to guard against theoretical errors (e.g., involving new physics and/or assumptions about spin/eccentricity) while providing a measure of redundancy. In previous work, we showed how "seedless clustering" can be used to detect long-lived gravitational-wave transients in both targeted and all-sky searches. In this paper, we apply seedless clustering to the problem of low-mass ($M_\text{total}\leq10M_\odot$) compact binary coalescences for both spinning and eccentric systems. We show that seedless clustering provides a robust and computationally efficient method for detecting low-mass compact binaries.