Optimize waveform parameters over sky-dependent sensitivity criteria

Optimize the chirp waveform parameters of the Taiji transverse-scalar resolving-power forecast according to sky-averaged, sky-percentile, or source-population-weighted criteria rather than minimizing the scalar-fraction threshold at a single fixed sky position.

Background

The paper selects a fixed benchmark chirp by scanning chirp mass and initial frequency at one reference sky direction, then evaluates that waveform across the sky. Auxiliary scans at other directions show that different sky locations favor different waveform parameters, even though the resulting sensitivity remains at a similar order of magnitude.

The authors identify a broader optimization problem in which waveform parameters could be selected using the median or another percentile of the all-sky scalar-fraction threshold, or using a source-population-weighted performance measure. This optimization is not carried out in the paper and is explicitly deferred to future work.

References

A systematic study of this waveform--sky optimization is therefore naturally separate from the fixed-benchmark forecast considered here.

— Taiji Resolving Power for the Transverse Scalar Mode of Gravitational Waves  (2608.11852 - Ge et al., 12 Aug 2026) in Discussion and conclusions, Section 5; related discussion in Appendix A, Section A.1

Determining which astrophysical systems can produce both a sufficiently bright tensor signal and a scalar fraction in the range probed here requires source-dependent waveform generation and, ultimately, a population calculation. That question is deliberately left open in the present analysis.

— Taiji Resolving Power for the Transverse Scalar Mode of Gravitational Waves  (2608.11852 - Ge et al., 12 Aug 2026) in Discussion and conclusions, Section 5