Systematic effect in the standard processing of gravitational-wave signals

We analyze a systematic effect in the standard coordinate transformation of a gravitational-wave signal from the source to the detector reference frame. It is shown that, despite the mathematically correct application of the canonical Arnowitt–Deser–Misner transform (ADM formalism), the estimated characteristic mass of the source (a binary system of merging black holes) turns out to be affected by a systematic error if the mass estimation is based on the the time derivative of the signal frequency obtained in the detector reference frame, and not in the source reference frame. This systematic error leads to a significant overestimation of distances to gravitational wave sources, which reduces the probability that large ground-based telescopes detect possible electromagnetic afterglows associated with gravitational wave sources.