Towards a generic test of the strong field dynamics of general relativity using compact binary coalescence: Further investigations

By T. Li, Walter Del Pozzo, S. Vitale, C. Broeck, M. Agathos, J. Veitch, K. Grover, T. Sidery, R. Sturani, Alberto Vecchio. 2011

146 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In this paper we elaborate on earlier work by the same authors in which a novel Bayesian inference framework for testing the strong-field dynamics of General Relativity using coalescing compact binaries was proposed. Unlike methods that were used previously, our technique addresses the question whether one or more 'testing coefficients' (e.g. in the phase) parameterizing deviations from GR are non-zero, rather than all of them differing from zero at the same time. The framework is well-adapted to a scenario where most sources have low signal-to-noise ratio, and information from multiple sources as seen in multiple detectors can readily be combined. In our previous work, we conjectured that this framework can detect generic deviations from GR that can in principle not be accomodated by our model waveforms, on condition that the change in phase near frequencies where the detectors are the most sensitive is comparable to that induced by simple shifts in the lower-order phase coefficients of more than a few percent (~ 5 radians at 150 Hz). To further support this claim, we perform additional numerical experiments in Gaussian and stationary noise according to the expected Advanced LIGO/Virgo noise curves, and coherently injecting signals into the network whose phasing differs structurally from the predictions of GR, but with the magnitude of the deviation still being small. We find that even then, a violation of GR can be established with good confidence.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/16e67e3ca717e1cb7d73bf7f8d768a6c962123c4

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

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Citations in the corpus

• Tests of general relativity with the binary black hole signals from the LIGO-Virgo catalog GWTC-1 (2019, unknown): “(19) of [96].”
• Observation of Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of a 2.5–4.5 M ⊙ Compact Object and a Neutron Star (2024, methodology): “…is consistent with general relativity, we perform parameterized tests searching for deviations in the PN coefficients that determine the phase evolution of the GW signal (Blanchet & Sathyaprakash 1994, 1995; Arun et al. 2006a,b; Yunes & Pretorius 2009; Mishra et al. 2010; Li et al. 2012a,b).”
• Doing Science with eLISA: Astrophysics and Cosmology in the Millihertz Regime (2012, methodology): “The relatively large strength of the inspiral gravitational wave signal will allow a sensitive test of GR by comparing the rate of the observed inspiral (phase evolution) to predictions of the PN approximation to GR (Cornish et al., 2011, Huwyler et al., 2011, Li et al., 2011, Mishra et al., 2010).”