GWTC-5.0: Constraints on the Cosmic Expansion Rate and Modified Gravitational-wave Propagation

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Main Authors: The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration, the KAGRA Collaboration
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author The LIGO Scientific Collaboration
the Virgo Collaboration
the KAGRA Collaboration
author_facet The LIGO Scientific Collaboration
the Virgo Collaboration
the KAGRA Collaboration
contents We employ 236 gravitational-wave (GW) sources in the fifth LIGO--Virgo--KAGRA Collaboration (LVK) Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC-5.0) to estimate the Hubble constant $H_0$. We compare the luminosity distance measured from GWs to the redshift inferred i) using features in the mass spectrum, and ii) using statistical host galaxy association. Probing the relationship between source luminosity distances and redshifts obtained in this way yields constraints on cosmological parameters. We estimate $H_0 = {71.0}_{-7.1}^{+9.0}\,{\text{km}\,\text{s}^{-1}\,\text{Mpc}^{-1}}$ (median with $68\%$ symmetric credible interval). This combines information from the source-frame mass distribution with the $H_0$ measurement from GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart as well as galaxy catalog information from Dark Energy Survey Year 6 (DES-Y6). We improve over the GWTC-4.0 measurement by using more GW sources, some with significantly smaller sky localization volumes, which leads to a reduction by $25.7\%$ of the $H_0$ uncertainty and a reconstructed mass distribution with lower uncertainties. We also constrain deviations from general relativity (GR) which affect GW propagation, specifically that modify the luminosity distance inferred from the GW signal. We find no departures from GR in parameterized tests of GW propagation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_27227
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle GWTC-5.0: Constraints on the Cosmic Expansion Rate and Modified Gravitational-wave Propagation
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration
the Virgo Collaboration
the KAGRA Collaboration
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
We employ 236 gravitational-wave (GW) sources in the fifth LIGO--Virgo--KAGRA Collaboration (LVK) Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC-5.0) to estimate the Hubble constant $H_0$. We compare the luminosity distance measured from GWs to the redshift inferred i) using features in the mass spectrum, and ii) using statistical host galaxy association. Probing the relationship between source luminosity distances and redshifts obtained in this way yields constraints on cosmological parameters. We estimate $H_0 = {71.0}_{-7.1}^{+9.0}\,{\text{km}\,\text{s}^{-1}\,\text{Mpc}^{-1}}$ (median with $68\%$ symmetric credible interval). This combines information from the source-frame mass distribution with the $H_0$ measurement from GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart as well as galaxy catalog information from Dark Energy Survey Year 6 (DES-Y6). We improve over the GWTC-4.0 measurement by using more GW sources, some with significantly smaller sky localization volumes, which leads to a reduction by $25.7\%$ of the $H_0$ uncertainty and a reconstructed mass distribution with lower uncertainties. We also constrain deviations from general relativity (GR) which affect GW propagation, specifically that modify the luminosity distance inferred from the GW signal. We find no departures from GR in parameterized tests of GW propagation.
title GWTC-5.0: Constraints on the Cosmic Expansion Rate and Modified Gravitational-wave Propagation
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.27227