Testing general relativity with gravitational waves -- improving and extending Modified Dispersion Relation tests

Abstract

Searching for a modified dispersion relation is one of the general relativity tests performed by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration with each new cumulative Gravitational Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC). It considers classes of theories that modify the dispersion of gravitational waves by introducing a massive graviton or breaking Lorentz invariance. The symmetry breaking is parameterized phenomenologically by a momentum power law term $p^{\alpha }$ added to the dispersion relation, with the test placing constraints on the amplitude $A_{\alpha }$ of the introduced deviation. In this work, we implement improvements to the test, chief among them group velocity parametrization, a better sampling procedure, and extension to negative exponents $\alpha$ of $p$. We then reanalyze the events from the third catalog, GWTC-3, with our improved method. Compared with GWTC-3 results, we find significant improvement, mostly from the improved sampling method, in the posteriors obtained by analyzing individual event and more modest improvements in the combined bounds on amplitude parameters $A_{\alpha }$ -- on average, we observe 19% shrinking of posterior width. The 90% upper bound on the graviton mass changes from $2.42\times 10^{-11}$ peV to $2.21\times 10^{-11}$ peV. For the extension of our test to $\alpha \in \{-1,-2,-3\}$, we find no evidence in favor of general relativity violation.

References in corpus (53)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• Array Programming with NumPy
• Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
• Advanced Virgo: a 2nd generation interferometric gravitational wave detector
• Advanced LIGO
• Quantum Gravity at a Lifshitz Point
• dynesty: A Dynamic Nested Sampling Package for Estimating Bayesian Posteriors and Evidences
• Resummation of Massive Gravity
• GW190814: Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of a 23 M${}_{\odot }$ Black Hole with a 2.6 M${}_{\odot }$ Compact Object
• Bilby: A user-friendly Bayesian inference library for gravitational-wave astronomy
• Interferometer design of the KAGRA gravitational wave detector
• Robust parameter estimation for compact binaries with ground-based gravitational-wave observations using the LALInference software library
• Tests of General Relativity with the Binary Black Hole Signals from the LIGO-Virgo Catalog GWTC-1
• 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
• Computationally efficient models for the dominant and sub-dominant harmonic modes of precessing binary black holes
• 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
• Fundamental Theoretical Bias in Gravitational Wave Astrophysics and the Parameterized Post-Einsteinian Framework
• Doubly Special Relativity
• Open data from the third observing run of LIGO, Virgo, KAGRA and GEO
• Fractal universe and quantum gravity
• A statistical test for Nested Sampling algorithms
• Gravitational Rainbows: LIGO and Dark Energy at its Cutoff
• Constraining Lorentz-violating, Modified Dispersion Relations with Gravitational Waves
• Collaborative Nested Sampling: Big Data vs. complex physical models
• Phenomenological model for the gravitational-wave signal from precessing binary black holes with two-spin effects
• Testing local Lorentz invariance with gravitational waves
• TIGER: A data analysis pipeline for testing the strong-field dynamics of general relativity with gravitational wave signals from coalescing compact binaries
• Testing post-Newtonian theory with gravitational wave observations
• Testing the binary black hole nature of a compact binary coalescence
• Black-hole Spectroscopy by Making Full Use of Gravitational-Wave Modeling
• Tests of General Relativity with GWTC-3
• Constraints on quasi-normal-mode frequencies with LIGO-Virgo binary-black-hole observations
• Cosmological parameter constraints for Horndeski scalar-tensor gravity
• Constraints on deviations from $\Lambda$CDM within Horndeski gravity
• Tests of General Relativity with Gravitational-Wave Observations using a Flexible--Theory-Independent Method
• Parameterized tests of the strong-field dynamics of general relativity using gravitational wave signals from coalescing binary black holes: Fast likelihood calculations and sensitivity of the method
• Modified dispersion relations in extra dimensions
• Tests of general relativity in the nonlinear regime: a parametrized plunge-merger-ringdown gravitational waveform model
• Measuring the propagation speed of gravitational waves with LISA
• Constraints on the binary black hole nature of GW151226 and GW170608 from the measurement of spin-induced quadrupole moments
• Search for anisotropic, birefringent spacetime-symmetry breaking in gravitational wave propagation from GWTC-3
• Analysis of birefringence and dispersion effects from spacetime-symmetry breaking in gravitational waves
• Testing gravitational wave propagation with multiband detections
• Modified gravitational wave propagation with higher modes and its degeneracies with lensing
• Fortifying gravitational-wave tests of general relativity against astrophysical assumptions
• Probing the speed of gravity with LVK, LISA, and joint observations
• Parametrized spin-precessing inspiral-merger-ringdown waveform model for tests of general relativity
• Effect of double spin-precession and higher harmonics on spin-induced quadrupole moment measurements
• Improved parametrized test of general relativity using the IMRPhenomX waveform family: Including higher harmonics and precession
• Bounds on the charge of the graviton using gravitational wave observations
• Testing general relativity with gravitational waves -- improving and extending Modified Dispersion Relation tests

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Testing general relativity with gravitational waves -- improving and extending Modified Dispersion Relation tests