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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.00497 |
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| _version_ | 1866911559164362752 |
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| author | Baka, Tomasz Cirok, Balázs Haris, K. Noller, Johannes Krishnendu, N. V. |
| author_facet | Baka, Tomasz Cirok, Balázs Haris, K. Noller, Johannes Krishnendu, N. V. |
| contents | 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 $p^α$ added to the dispersion relation, with the test placing constraints on the amplitude $A_α$ 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 $α$ 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 $A_α$ -- 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 $α\in \{-1, -2, -3\}$, we find no evidence in favor of general relativity violation. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_00497 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Testing general relativity with gravitational waves -- improving and extending Modified Dispersion Relation tests Baka, Tomasz Cirok, Balázs Haris, K. Noller, Johannes Krishnendu, N. V. General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 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 $p^α$ added to the dispersion relation, with the test placing constraints on the amplitude $A_α$ 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 $α$ 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 $A_α$ -- 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 $α\in \{-1, -2, -3\}$, we find no evidence in favor of general relativity violation. |
| title | Testing general relativity with gravitational waves -- improving and extending Modified Dispersion Relation tests |
| topic | General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.00497 |