Testing cosmological isotropy with gravitational waves and gamma-ray bursts

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Main Authors: Cheng, Brian H. Y., Cruz, Donniel C., Hannuksela, Otto A., Hassan, Davendra S., Heiderijk, Christian, Hu, Leo Q., Jana, Souvik, Kim, Jinwon, Kong, Albert K. H., Lai, Peony K. K., Lange, Samuel C., Leong, Samson H. W., Lulli, Matteo, Ma, Li-Ting, Martens, Paul, Ng, Boris H-L., Ng, Thomas C. K., Saha, Surojit, Seong, Gwangeon, Xian, Helen, Zheng, Yanyan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Cheng, Brian H. Y.
Cruz, Donniel C.
Hannuksela, Otto A.
Hassan, Davendra S.
Heiderijk, Christian
Hu, Leo Q.
Jana, Souvik
Kim, Jinwon
Kong, Albert K. H.
Lai, Peony K. K.
Lange, Samuel C.
Leong, Samson H. W.
Lulli, Matteo
Ma, Li-Ting
Martens, Paul
Ng, Boris H-L.
Ng, Thomas C. K.
Saha, Surojit
Seong, Gwangeon
Xian, Helen
Zheng, Yanyan
author_facet Cheng, Brian H. Y.
Cruz, Donniel C.
Hannuksela, Otto A.
Hassan, Davendra S.
Heiderijk, Christian
Hu, Leo Q.
Jana, Souvik
Kim, Jinwon
Kong, Albert K. H.
Lai, Peony K. K.
Lange, Samuel C.
Leong, Samson H. W.
Lulli, Matteo
Ma, Li-Ting
Martens, Paul
Ng, Boris H-L.
Ng, Thomas C. K.
Saha, Surojit
Seong, Gwangeon
Xian, Helen
Zheng, Yanyan
contents The cosmological principle asserts that the Universe is homogeneous and isotropic on large enough scales. However, alternative cosmological models can bring about anisotropies through local inhomogeneities, anisotropic evolution, or exotic physics. In addition, select studies have also hinted at mild evidence of anisotropies in SNe Ia, CMB, and GRB data, though these remain unconfirmed. In this work, we test for cosmological anisotropies using gravitational waves and gamma-ray bursts, adopting the latest O4a release from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration and GRBWeb (including all known GRBs since 1991). If the cosmological principle holds, the sky localisation and the characteristics of the GRBs and GWs (masses, luminosities, redshifts) should be statistically isotropic when corrected for selection biases. We employ a couple statistical methods, including angular power spectra and two-point correlation functions, and compare the results against synthetic data. The work extends previous analyses by including the most recent datasets, and the use of multiple complementary statistical tests. We find no significant evidence for anisotropy in the current GW and GRB datasets, consistent with the cosmological principle.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_17746
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Testing cosmological isotropy with gravitational waves and gamma-ray bursts
Cheng, Brian H. Y.
Cruz, Donniel C.
Hannuksela, Otto A.
Hassan, Davendra S.
Heiderijk, Christian
Hu, Leo Q.
Jana, Souvik
Kim, Jinwon
Kong, Albert K. H.
Lai, Peony K. K.
Lange, Samuel C.
Leong, Samson H. W.
Lulli, Matteo
Ma, Li-Ting
Martens, Paul
Ng, Boris H-L.
Ng, Thomas C. K.
Saha, Surojit
Seong, Gwangeon
Xian, Helen
Zheng, Yanyan
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
The cosmological principle asserts that the Universe is homogeneous and isotropic on large enough scales. However, alternative cosmological models can bring about anisotropies through local inhomogeneities, anisotropic evolution, or exotic physics. In addition, select studies have also hinted at mild evidence of anisotropies in SNe Ia, CMB, and GRB data, though these remain unconfirmed. In this work, we test for cosmological anisotropies using gravitational waves and gamma-ray bursts, adopting the latest O4a release from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration and GRBWeb (including all known GRBs since 1991). If the cosmological principle holds, the sky localisation and the characteristics of the GRBs and GWs (masses, luminosities, redshifts) should be statistically isotropic when corrected for selection biases. We employ a couple statistical methods, including angular power spectra and two-point correlation functions, and compare the results against synthetic data. The work extends previous analyses by including the most recent datasets, and the use of multiple complementary statistical tests. We find no significant evidence for anisotropy in the current GW and GRB datasets, consistent with the cosmological principle.
title Testing cosmological isotropy with gravitational waves and gamma-ray bursts
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.17746