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arXiv · 1711.03776

Generalized framework for testing gravity with gravitational-wave propagation. II. Constraints on Horndeski theory

Shun Arai·Atsushi Nishizawa
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Abstract

Gravitational waves (GW) are generally affected by modification of a gravity theory during propagation in cosmological distance. We numerically perform a quantitative analysis on Horndeski theory at cosmological scale to constrain the Horndeski theory by GW observations in model-independent way. We formulate a parameterization for a numerical simulation based on the Monte Carlo method and obtain the classification of the models that agrees with cosmic accelerating expansion within observational errors of the Hubble parameter. As a result, we find that a large group of the models in the Horndeski theory that mimic cosmic expansion of ${\Lambda}$CDM model can be excluded from the simultaneous detection of a GW and its electromagnetic transient counterpart. Based on our result and the latest detection of GW170817 and GRB170817A, we conclude that the subclass of Horndeski theory including arbitrary functions $G_4$ and $G_5$ can hardly explain cosmic accelerating expansion without fine-tuning.

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Shun Arai, Atsushi Nishizawa. 2017-11-10. Generalized framework for testing gravity with gravitational-wave propagation. II. Constraints on Horndeski theory. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.97.104038

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