Foreground signals minimally affect inference of high-mass binary black holes in next generation gravitational-wave detectors

Understand

Next-generation gravitational-wave observatories are expected to detect over a thousand compact binary coalescence signals daily, with some lasting from minutes to hours.

• Consequently, multiple signals will overlap in the time-frequency plane, generating a "foreground noise" that predominantly affects the low-frequency range, where binary neutron star inspiral evolution is gradual.
• This study investigates the impact of such foreground noise on parameter estimation for short-duration binary black hole signals, particularly those with high detector-frame masses and/or located at large redshifts.
• Our results show a reduction in detection sensitivity by approximately 25\% when the noise power spectrum deviates by up to 50\% from Gaussian noise due to foreground contamination.