4–5 Jun 2026
University of Geneva
Europe/Zurich timezone

Gravitational wave Hubble constant measurement using the DES Y6 Gold galaxy catalog and GWTC-4.0

5 Jun 2026, 09:30
15m
Sciences II Auditorium A100 (University of Geneva)

Sciences II Auditorium A100

University of Geneva

Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30

Speaker

Isaac McMahon (University of Zürich)

Description

Gravitational wave (GW) standard sirens enable independent measurements of the Hubble constant. In the absence of electromagnetic counterparts, the "dark siren" method statistically correlates GW events with potential host galaxies. We present a measurement of H0 using 142 events from the GWTC-4.0 GW event catalog and the DES Y6 Gold photometric galaxy catalog. We jointly infer cosmological and GW population parameters. We analyze the impact of galaxy catalog properties on the inference, identifying significant features in the galaxy redshift distribution which can introduce biases. This study demonstrates the adaptation of deep galaxy catalogs for GW cosmology, highlighting key challenges and methodologies essential for maximizing the potential of next-generation galaxy surveys.

Author

Isaac McMahon (University of Zürich)

Co-authors

Presentation materials