A New Paradigm for Testing Gravity: Theory-Independent Constraints Using Data From All Astrophysical and Cosmological Scales

Abstract

Testing General Relativity (GR) is a key science goal of much of modern physics, and usually results in constraints that are either theory or context specific. We present an holistic framework that we dub `Parametrized Post-Newtonian Cosmology' (PPNC), which can be used for obtaining theory-agnostic constraints on deviations from GR using a single unified set of parameters that apply on all astrophysical and cosmological scales. Our approach is based on the formalism and philosophy of the highly successful Parametrized Post-Newtonian (PPN) framework, but allows us to combine observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs) with Solar System observations of the Cassini probe and ephemeris of Mars. The full combination of these data sets constrains average deviations from GR over the history of the Universe to be less than $\sim 10\%$, with PPNC parameter values $\bar{\alpha}=0.97^{+0.06}_{-0.07}$ and $\bar{\gamma}=0.97^{+0.05}_{-0.05}$ at the $68\%$ confidence level (GR corresponds to $\bar{\alpha}=\bar{\gamma}=1$). We find that these gravitational parameters have a strong mutual degeneracy, and are constrained to be within $1\%$ of each other for all of cosmic history. Our results demonstrate the ability of the PPNC framework to combine astrophysical, Solar System and cosmological tests of gravity into a single set of unified constraints. We expect our approach to be particularly useful for upcoming missions in both cosmology and astrophysics, which ultimately seek to constrain the same underlying gravitational interaction.