An Interpretive Classification of Gravitational-Wave Ringdown Residuals -Residuals as Analytical Outcomes Rather Than Physical Signals

In gravitational-wave observations, residual signals remaining after standard ringdown analyses are typically treated as statistical noise or as byproducts of data-processing procedures. This practice has played an essential role in maintaining the reliability of gravitational-wave detection and parameter estimation. At the same time, it involves implicit interpretive choices concerning how post-analysis data products are conceptually categorized. This paper develops an interpretive framework that makes these choices explicit, without introducing new physical theories, additional signal components, or observational predictions. The framework is strictly confined to the interpretive layer that follows the formal completion of standard ringdown analysis, and residual signals are not treated as indicators of unmodeled physical phenomena, but as analysis byproducts whose status depends on the adopted analytical procedures. To formalize the termination of physical interpretation, the paper introduces a resonance descriptor denoted by Ψ as a purely organizational and discursive device. Ψ is neither a measurable physical quantity nor a statistical indicator, and it does not replace or supplement any quantitative measures used in gravitational-wave data analysis. Its sole function is to mark the point at which interpretive attribution is intentionally withheld. By explicitly separating physical laws, data-processing procedures, and interpretive classification, this work identifies and constrains a structural ambiguity that commonly arises in post-analysis discussions of ringdown residuals. The contribution is methodological rather than physical, providing a conceptual reference for disciplined interpretation without advancing new claims about underlying physics. Keywords gravitational waves • ringdown residuals • interpretive framework • foundations of data analysis • quasi-normal modes Supplementary Material File (interpretive_classification_ringdown_residuals.pdf) - Download - 236.35 KB Information & Authors Information Version history Copyright This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Authors Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 130views 67downloads Citations Download citation Ken Park. An Interpretive Classification of Gravitational-Wave Ringdown Residuals -Residuals as Analytical Outcomes Rather Than Physical Signals. Authorea. 05 February 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.177032660.01189775/v1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.177032660.01189775/v1 If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download. For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.