Reconstructing parametric gravitational-wave population fits from nonparametric results without refitting the data

Abstract

Combining multiple events into population analyses is a cornerstone of gravitational-wave astronomy. A critical component of such studies is the assumed population model, which can range from astrophysically motivated functional forms to nonparametric treatments that are flexible but difficult to interpret. In practice, the current approach is to fit the data multiple times with different population models to identify robust features. We propose an alternative strategy: assuming the data have already been fit with a flexible model, we present a practical recipe to reconstruct the population distribution of a different model. As our procedure postprocesses existing results, it avoids the need to access the underlying gravitational-wave data again and handle selection effects. Additionally, our reconstruction metric provides a goodness-of-fit measure to compare multiple models. We apply this method to the mass distribution of black-hole binaries detected by LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA. Our work paves the way for streamlined gravitational-wave population analyses by first fitting the data with advanced nonparametric methods and careful handling of selection effects, while the astrophysical interpretation is then made accessible using our reconstruction procedure on targeted models. The key principle is that of conceptually separating data description from data interpretation. Published by the American Physical Society 2025