Unmasking noise transients masquerading as intermediate-mass black hole binaries

Abstract

In the first three observation runs, ground-based gravitational wave (GW) detectors have observed close to 100 compact binary coalescence (CBC) events. The GW detection rates for CBCs are expected to increase with improvements in the sensitivity of the International Gravitational-Wave Observatory Network (IGWN). However, with improved sensitivity, non-Gaussian instrumental transients or ``glitches'' are expected to adversely affect GW searches and characterisation algorithms. The most detrimental effect is due to short-duration glitches, which mimic the morphology of short-duration GW transients, in particular Intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) binaries. They can be easily misidentified as astrophysical signals by current searches, and if included in astrophysical analyses, glitches mislabelled as IMBH binaries can affect IMBH population studies. In this work, we introduce a new similarity metric that quantifies the consistency of astrophysical parameters across the detector network and helps to distinguish between IMBH binaries and short-duration, loud glitches which mimic such binaries. We develop this method using a simulated set of IMBH binary signals and a collection of noise transients identified during the third observing run of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors.