Prospects for estimating parameters from gravitational waves of superspinar binaries

TL;DR

This paper investigates how limited spin priors in gravitational wave analysis can bias parameter estimation for superspinars, suggesting extended priors are necessary for accurate detection and characterization.

Contribution

It demonstrates the bias introduced by limited spin priors in parameter estimation of superspinars and advocates for extended priors to improve detection accuracy.

Findings

Bias in mass and spin parameters when primary is a superspinar

Extended spin priors improve parameter estimation accuracy

No superspinar preference found in GW170608 and GW190814 events

Abstract

To date, close to fifty presumed black hole binary mergers were observed by the LIGO and Virgo detectors. The analyses have been done with an assumption that these objects are black holes by limiting the spin prior to the Kerr bound. However, the above assumption is not valid for superspinars, which have the Kerr geometry but rotate beyond the Kerr bound. In this study, we investigate whether and how the limited spin prior range causes a bias in parameter estimation for superspinars if they are detected. To this end, we estimate binary parameters of the simulated inspiral signals of the gravitational waves of compact binaries by assuming that at least one component of them is a superspinar. We have found that when the primary is a superspinar, both mass and spin parameters are biased in parameter estimation due to the limited spin prior range. In this case, the extended prior range is strongly favored compared to the limited one. On the other hand, when the primary is a black hole, we do not see much bias in parameter estimation due to the limited spin prior range, even though the secondary is a superspinar. We also apply the analysis to black hole binary merger events GW170608 and GW190814, which have a long and loud inspiral signal. We do not see any preference of superspinars from the model selection for both events. We conclude that the extension of the spin prior range is necessary for accurate parameter estimation if highly spinning primary objects are found, while it is difficult to identify superspinars if they are only the secondary objects. Nevertheless, the bias in parameter estimation of spin for the limited spin prior range can be a clue of the existence of superspinars.