Does the speed of gravitational waves depend on the source velocity?

Abstract

The second postulate of special relativity states that the speed of light in vacuum is independent of the emitter's motion. The test of this postulate so far remains unexplored for gravitational radiation. We analyze data from the LIGO-Virgo detectors to test this postulate within the ambit of a model where the speed of the emitted GWs ($c^{\prime }$) from a binary depends on a characteristic velocity $\tilde{v}$ proportional to that of the reduced one-body system as $c^{\prime }=c+k\tilde{v}$, where $k$ is a constant. We have estimated the upper bound on the 90\% credible interval over $k$ to be $k\le 8.3\times {10}^{-18}$, which is several orders of magnitude more stringent compared to previous bounds obtained from electromagnetic observations. The Bayes' factor supports the second postulate with a strong evidence that the data is consistent with the null hypothesis $k=0$, upholding the principle of relativity for gravitational interactions.

arXiv comment9 pages, 3 figures Title Modified, Content Substantially Revised, Conclusions Unaffected, Matches with the Published Version in Physical Review D

References in corpus (22)

• GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
• Gravitational Waves and Gamma-rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A
• dynesty: A Dynamic Nested Sampling Package for Estimating Bayesian Posteriors and Evidences
• Gravitational Waves from Mergin Compact Binaries: How Accurately Can One Extract the Binary's Parameters from the Inspiral Waveform?
• Properties of the binary neutron star merger GW170817
• Bilby: A user-friendly Bayesian inference library for gravitational-wave astronomy
• Tests of General Relativity with Binary Black Holes from the second LIGO-Virgo Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog
• GW190412: Observation of a Binary-Black-Hole Coalescence with Asymmetric Masses
• The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. I. Dark Energy Camera Discovery of the Optical Counterpart
• Open data from the first and second observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
• Bayesian inference for compact binary coalescences with BILBY: Validation and application to the first LIGO--Virgo gravitational-wave transient catalogue
• Bounding the mass of the graviton using gravitional-wave observations of inspiralling compact binaries
• Dynamic nested sampling: an improved algorithm for parameter estimation and evidence calculation
• PyCBC Inference: A Python-based parameter estimation toolkit for compact binary coalescence signals
• Constraining Lorentz-violating, Modified Dispersion Relations with Gravitational Waves
• Testing local Lorentz invariance with gravitational waves
• Gravitational waves from inspiralling compact binaries: Energy flux to third post-Newtonian order
• A Precise Distance to the Host Galaxy of the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817 Using Surface Brightness Fluctuations
• Measuring the eccentricity of GW170817 and GW190425
• Tests of Gravitational-Wave Birefringence with the Open Gravitational-Wave Catalog
• Search for anisotropic, birefringent spacetime-symmetry breaking in gravitational wave propagation from GWTC-3
• Testing Lorentz Invariance of Gravity in the Standard Model Extension with GWTC-3

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Periodical orbits and waveforms with spontaneous Lorentz symmetry-breaking in Kalb-Ramond gravity
• Quasinormal Modes, Grebody Factors, and Hawking Radiation Sparsity of Black Holes Influenced by a Global Monopole Charge in Kalb-Ramond Gravity
• Exact black hole solutions in gravity with a background Kalb-Ramond field
• Parametrized tests of general relativity using eccentric compact binaries
• Lorentz violation signatures in the low-energy sector of Hořava gravity from black hole shadow observations
• On the self-consistency of compact objects in Lorentz-violating gravity theories
• Bounds on the charge of the graviton using gravitational wave observations
• Measuring Gravitational Wave Speed and Lorentz Violation with the First Three Gravitational-Wave Catalogs
• Primordial gravitational waves from spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking
• Measuring the speed of gravity and the cosmic expansion with time delays between gravity and light from binary neutron stars
• Lorentz Violation with Gravitational Waves: Constraints from NANOGrav and IPTA Data
• Effects of bumblebee gravity on neutrino motion
• Constraining Lorentz and parity violations in gravity with multiband gravitational wave observations