GWTC-3: Gravitational-Wave Parameter Estimates from LIGO/Virgo O3b Observations

GWTC-3 is a parameter estimation data release from the LIGO Scientific, Virgo, and KAGRA Collaborations. It contains posterior samples for 36 gravitational-wave candidate events from the second part of the third observing run. The release includes HDF5 files with samples, metadata, configuration files, and sky localization data.

Use Cases

• Inferring source properties of black hole and neutron star mergers based on posterior samples.
• Analyzing sky localizations for gravitational-wave events based on different waveform models.
• Reproducing or extending the analysis for figures in the associated scientific paper using the provided contour data.
• Learning to work with gravitational-wave parameter estimation data using the provided Python notebook examples.

Strengths

• Contains data for 36 distinct gravitational-wave candidate events.
• Provides both cosmologically reweighted and non-reweighted posterior samples for each event.
• Includes metadata such as configuration files, noise power spectral densities, and calibration uncertainty envelopes.
• Supported by a Python notebook with examples for reading and using the data.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration, KAGRA Collaboration

Collection Method

Observational data from the LIGO and Virgo detectors during the O3b observing run, analyzed with Bilby, Parallel Bilby, and RIFT.

Time Range

Second part of the third observing run (O3b).