  I define here a novel function on a modeled space of gravitational-wave
signals, before studying its properties as a statistic for detection, as an
objective function for identification, and as an effective likelihood function
for inference. The main motivation behind this work is the open data-analysis
problem for signals from extreme-mass-ratio inspirals, which is severely
hindered by the presence of strong non-local parameter degeneracy in the signal
space. I demonstrate the utility of the proposed function for the analysis of
such signals, and suggest various possible directions for future research.
