Constraining Scalar-Tensor Modified Gravity with Gravitational Waves and Large Scale Structure Surveys

Jul 27, 2020
39 pages
Published in:
  • JCAP 01 (2021) 068
  • Published: Jan 29, 2021
e-Print:

Citations per year

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Abstract: (IOP)
The first multi-messenger gravitational wave event has had a transformative effect on the space of modified gravity models. In this paper we study the enhanced tests of gravity that are possible with a future set of gravitational wave standard siren events. We perform MCMC constraint forecasts for parameters in Horndeski scalar-tensor theories. In particular, we focus on the complementarity of gravitational waves with electromagnetic large-scale structure data from galaxy surveys. We find that the addition of fifty low redshift (z ≲ 0.2) standard sirens from the advanced LIGO network offers only a modest improvement (a factor 1.1–1.3, where 1.0 is no improvement) over existing constraints from electromagnetic observations of large-scale structures. In contrast, high redshift (up to z ∼ 10) standard sirens from the future LISA satellite will improve constraints on the time evolution of the Planck mass in Horndeski theories by a factor ∼ 5. By simulating different scenarios, we find this improvement to be robust to marginalisation over unknown merger inclination angles and to variation between three plausible models for the merger source population.
Note:
  • 29+10 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables. Comments welcome. Main concept in Figure 1, main result in Figure 9. Accepted for publication in JCAP
  • gravitation: model
  • redshift: high
  • redshift: low
  • scale: Planck
  • Monte Carlo: Markov chain
  • gravitational radiation
  • structure
  • formation
  • electromagnetic field: production
  • scalar tensor
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