English

Factorized neural posterior estimation for rapid and reliable inference of parameterized post-Einsteinian deviation parameters in gravitational waves

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics 2026-02-03 v1 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

The direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs) by LIGO has strikingly confirmed general relativity (GR), but testing GR via GWs requires estimating parameterized post-Einsteinian (ppE) deviation parameters in waveform models. Traditional Bayesian inference methods like Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) provide reliable estimates but suffer from prohibitive computational costs, failing to meet the real-time demands and surging data volume of future GW detectors. Here, we propose a factorized neural posterior estimation framework: we construct independent normalizing flow models for each of the nine ppE deviation parameters and effectively integrate prior information from other source parameters via a conditional embedding network. Leveraging a hybrid neural network with a convolutional neural network and a Residual Neural Network for feature extraction, our method performs rapid and statistically reliable posterior inference directly from binary black hole signals. Compared to conventional MCMC, our approach achieves millisecond-scale inference time with a speedup factor of 9×1049 \times 10^4. Comprehensive validations show that the posterior estimates pass the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and achieve empirical coverage probabilities close to theoretical targets. This work demonstrates the great potential of deep learning for GW parameter estimation and provides a viable technical solution for real-time GR tests with next-generation detectors.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.01319,
  title  = {Factorized neural posterior estimation for rapid and reliable inference of parameterized post-Einsteinian deviation parameters in gravitational waves},
  author = {Yong-Xin Zhang and Tian-Yang Sun and Chun-Yu Xiong and Song-Tao Liu and Yu-Xin Wang and Shang-Jie Jin and Jing-Fei Zhang and Xin Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.01319},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

15 pages, 6 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:30:22.416Z