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Identifying strong gravitational-wave lensing during the second observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo

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arxiv 2009.06539 v2 pith:VOTAOODK submitted 2020-09-14 astro-ph.HE gr-qc

Identifying strong gravitational-wave lensing during the second observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo

classification astro-ph.HE gr-qc
keywords lensedlensingadvancedbayeseventsgravitational-wavemodelodds
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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We perform Bayesian model selection with parameter estimation to identify potentially lensed gravitational-wave images from the second observing run (O2) of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. Specifically, we compute the Bayesian evidence for a pair of events being lensed or not lensed (unlensed) using nested sampling. We consider the discrete coalescence phase shifts that can be induced if the gravitational-wave signal interacts with the lens caustics in the model selection. We find that the pair of events, GW170104 and GW170814 with a $\pi/2$ coalescence phase shift, has a significant Bayes factor ($B^L_{U}$ $\sim 1.98 \times 10^4$) favoring the lensing hypothesis. However, after taking into account the long time delay of approximately 7 months between events, the timing Bayes factor is significantly small ($B_t \sim 8.7\times10^{-2}$). The prior probability for detecting strongly lensed pairs at O2 sensitivity are exceedingly small for both galaxy and galaxy cluster lensing. Combining the lensing and timing Bayes factors with the prior odds on lensing gives an odds ratio of $O^L_{U} \sim 20$. However, the model dependence of the timing and prior odds factors does not provide strong evidence to demonstrate that the pair is strongly lensed.

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Cited by 5 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. The diffraction-lensing interpretation of GW231123 with astrophysical priors

    astro-ph.CO 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0

    GW231123 is better fit by a lower-mass merger diffracted by an isolated ~1000 M_sun lens, but astrophysical priors and a frequentist rate estimate make this lensing interpretation unlikely.

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    astro-ph.HE 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 6.0

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    A two-step Bayesian reweighting scheme using Euclid galaxy locations boosts the Bayes factor for true lensed GW pairs by a factor of about 10 while lowering it for unlensed coincidences.

  4. Can Eccentric Binary Black Hole Signals Mimic Gravitational-Wave Microlensing?

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    Eccentric BBH signals can masquerade as wave-optics microlensing in quasicircular analyses, but eccentric recovery templates break the degeneracy.

  5. Machine Learning Assisted Parameter-Space Searches for Lensed Gravitational Waves

    gr-qc 2025-09 conditional novelty 5.0

    Normalizing flow based non-Gaussian consistency tests in a compressed detector basis select GW170104-GW170814 as the only promising lensed pair in GWTC-3.