Gravitational wave tests of general relativity with the parameterized post-Einsteinian framework

Neil Cornish, Laura Sampson, Nicolás Yunes, and Frans Pretorius
Phys. Rev. D 84, 062003 – Published 30 September 2011

Abstract

Gravitational wave astronomy has tremendous potential for studying extreme astrophysical phenomena and exploring fundamental physics. The waves produced by binary black hole mergers will provide a pristine environment in which to study strong-field dynamical gravity. Extracting detailed information about these systems requires accurate theoretical models of the gravitational wave signals. If gravity is not described by general relativity, analyses that are based on waveforms derived from Einstein’s field equations could result in parameter biases and a loss of detection efficiency. A new class of “parameterized post-Einsteinian” waveforms has been proposed to cover this eventuality. Here, we apply the parameterized post-Einsteinian approach to simulated data from a network of advanced ground-based interferometers and from a future space-based interferometer. Bayesian inference and model selection are used to investigate parameter biases, and to determine the level at which departures from general relativity can be detected. We find that in some cases the parameter biases from assuming the wrong theory can be severe. We also find that gravitational wave observations will beat the existing bounds on deviations from general relativity derived from the orbital decay of binary pulsars by a large margin across a wide swath of parameter space.

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  • Received 11 May 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.84.062003

© 2011 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Neil Cornish1, Laura Sampson1, Nicolás Yunes1,2, and Frans Pretorius3

  • 1Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA
  • 2Department of Physics and MIT Kavli Institute, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
  • 3Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA

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Issue

Vol. 84, Iss. 6 — 15 September 2011

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