Parameter estimation methods for analyzing overlapping gravitational wave signals in the third-generation detector era

Abstract

In the coming years, third-generation detectors such as the EinsteinTelescope and the Cosmic Explorer will enter the network of ground-basedgravitational-wave detectors. Their current design predicts a significantlyimproved sensitivity band with a lower minimum frequency than existingdetectors. This, combined with the increased arm length, leads to two majoreffects: the detection of more signals and the detection of longer signals.Both will result in a large number of overlapping signals. It has been shown that such overlapping signals can lead to biases in therecovered parameters, which would adversely affect the science extracted fromthe observed binary merger signals. In this work, we analyze overlapping binaryblack hole coalescences with two methods to analyze multi-signal observations:hierarchical subtraction and joint parameter estimation. We find that thesemethods enable a reliable parameter extraction in most cases and that jointparameter estimation is usually more precise but comes with highercomputational costs.<br