Supermassive Black Hole Tests of General Relativity with eLISA

Abstract

Motivated by the parameterized post-Einsteinian (ppE) scheme devised by Yunes and Pretorius, which introduces corrections to the post-Newtonian coefficients of the frequency domain gravitational waveform in order to emulate alternative theories of gravity, we compute analytical time domain waveforms that, after a numerical Fourier transform, aim to represent (phase corrected only) ppE waveforms. In this formalism, alternative theories manifest themselves via corrections to the phase and frequency, as predicted by General Relativity (GR), at different post-Newtonian (PN) orders. In order to present a generic test of alternative theories of gravity, we assume that the coupling constant of each alternative theory is manifestly positive, allowing corrections to the GR waveforms to be either positive or negative. By exploring the capabilities of massive black hole binary GR waveforms in the detection and parameter estimation of corrected time domain ppE signals, using the current eLISA configuration (as presented for the ESA Cosmic Vision L3 mission), we demonstrate that for corrections arising at higher than 1PN order in phase and frequency, GR waveforms are sufficient for both detecting and estimating the parameters of alternative theory signals. However, for theories introducing corrections at the 0 and 0.5 PN order, GR waveforms are not capable of covering the entire parameter space, requiring the use of non-GR waveforms for detection and parameter estimation.

13 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (15)

• The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• Comparison of post-Newtonian templates for compact binary inspiral signals in gravitational-wave detectors
• A data-analysis driven comparison of analytic and numerical coalescing binary waveforms: nonspinning case
• Probing the non-linear structure of general relativity with black hole binaries
• Self consistent model for the evolution of eccentric massive black hole binaries in stellar environments: implications for gravitational wave observations
• Bounding the mass of the graviton with gravitational waves: Effect of higher harmonics in gravitational waveform templates
• Bounding the mass of the graviton with gravitational waves: Effect of spin precessions in massive black hole binaries
• LISA observations of supermassive black holes: parameter estimation using full post-Newtonian inspiral waveforms
• Binary Pulsar Constraints on the Parameterized post-Einsteinian Framework
• The Effect of Higher Harmonic Corrections on the Detection of massive black hole binaries with LISA
• Accuracy and effectualness of closed-form, frequency-domain waveforms for non-spinning black hole binaries
• Constraining the mass of the graviton using coalescing black-hole binaries
• MCMC Exploration of Supermassive Black Hole Binary Inspirals
• Comparison of high-accuracy numerical simulations of black-hole binaries with stationary phase post-Newtonian template waveforms for Initial and Advanced LIGO
• Catching Super Massive Black Hole Binaries Without a Net

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Projected Constraints on Lorentz-Violating Gravity with Gravitational Waves
• Fisher vs. Bayes : A comparison of parameter estimation techniques for massive black hole binaries to high redshifts with eLISA
• Testing general relativity with TianQin: the prospect of using the inspiral signals of black hole binaries
• Fundamental Physics and Cosmology with TianQin
• Prospects of constraining on the polarizations of gravitational waves from binary black holes using space- and ground-based detectors
• A New Method of Accelerated Bayesian Inference for Comparable Mass Binaries in both Ground and Space-Based Gravitational Wave Astronomy