Transdimensional Inference for Gravitational-wave Astronomy with Bilby

Abstract

It has become increasingly useful to answer questions in gravitational-wave astronomy using transdimensional models, where the number of free parameters can be varied depending on the complexity required to fit the data. Given the growing interest in transdimensional inference, we introduce a new package for the Bayesian inference Library (Bilby), called tBilby. The tBilby package allows users to set up transdimensional inference calculations using the existing Bilby architecture with off-the-shelf nested samplers and/or Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms. Transdimensional models are particularly helpful when seeking to test theoretically uncertain predictions described by phenomenological ..