No Arabic abstract
Knowledge of the shape of the mass spectrum of compact objects can be used to help break the degeneracy between the mass and redshift of the gravitational wave (GW) sources, and thus can be used to infer cosmological parameters in the absence of redshift measurements obtained from electromagnetic observations. In this paper, we study extensively different aspects of this approach, including its computational limits and achievable accuracy. We focus on ground-based detectors with current and future sensitivities, we first perform the analysis of an extensive set of simulated data with a hierarchical Bayesian scheme inferring population and cosmological parameters. We consider a population model (power-law plus Gaussian) which exhibits characteristic scales (extremes of the mass spectrum, presence of an accumulation point) that allows an indirect estimate of the source redshift. Our analysis of this catalog highlights and quantifies the tight interplay between source population and cosmological parameters, as well as the influence of initial assumptions (whether formulated on the source or cosmological parameters). We then validate our results by an end-to-end analysis using simulated GW data and posterior samples generated from Bayesian samplers used for GW parameter estimation, thus mirroring the analysis chain used for observational data for the first time in literature. Our results then lead us to re-examine the estimation of $H_0$ obtained with GWTC-1, and we show explicitly how population assumptions impact the final $H_0$ result. Our results underline the importance of inferring population and cosmological parameters jointly (and not separately as is often assumed). The only exception, as we discuss, is if an electromagnetic counterpart was to be observed for all the BBH events: then the population assumptions have less impact on the estimation of cosmological parameters.
Atom interferometers (AIs) as gravitational-wave (GW) detector had been proposed a decade ago. Both ground and space-based projects will be in construction and preparation in a near future. In this paper, for the first time, we investigate the potential of the space-borne AIs on detecting GW standard sirens and hence the applications on cosmology. We consider AEDGE as our fiducial AI GW detector and estimate the number of bright sirens that would be obtained within a 5-years data-taking period. We then construct the mock catalogue of bright sirens and predict their ability on constraining such as the Hubble constant, dynamics of dark energy, and modified gravity theory. The preliminary results show that there should be of order $mathcal{O} (30)$ bright sirens detected within 5 years observation time by AEDGE. The bright sirens alone can measure $H_0$ with precision 2.1%, which is sufficient to arbitrate the Hubble tension. Combining current most precise electromagnetic experiments, the inclusion of AEDGE bright sirens can improve the measurement of equation of state of dark energy, though marginally. However, by modifying GW propagation on cosmological scales, the deviations from general relativity (modified gravity theory effects ) can be constrained at 5.7% precision level, which is two times better than by 10-years operation of LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA network.
Horndeski models with a de Sitter critical point for any kind of material content may provide a mechanism to alleviate the cosmological constant problem. We study the cosmological evolution of two classes of families - the linear models and the non-linear models with shift symmetry. We conclude that the latter models can deliver a background dynamics compatible with the latest observational data.
Gravitational wave detectors are already operating at interesting sensitivity levels, and they have an upgrade path that should result in secure detections by 2014. We review the physics of gravitational waves, how they interact with detectors (bars and interferometers), and how these detectors operate. We study the most likely sources of gravitational waves and review the data analysis methods that are used to extract their signals from detector noise. Then we consider the consequences of gravitational wave detections and observations for physics, astrophysics, and cosmology.
The study of current gravitational waves catalogues provide an interesting model independent way to understand further the nature of dark energy. Taking advantage of them, in this work we present an update of the constraints related to dynamical dark energy parameterisations using recent Gravitational-Wave Transient catalogues (GWTC1 and GWTC-2). Also, we present a new treatment for GW to establish the relation between the standard luminosity distance and the siren distance. According to our Bayesian results developed with our join SNeIa+CC+GW database, the $Lambda$CDM model shows a preference against all the dark energy parameterisations considered here. Moreover, with the current GW transient database the GR standard luminosity and siren distances ratio shows a strong preference against the modified gravity $delta$-models considered here.
We investigate the cosmological applications of new gravitational scalar-tensor theories, which are novel modifications of gravity possessing 2+2 propagating degrees of freedom, arising from a Lagrangian that includes the Ricci scalar and its first and second derivatives. Extracting the field equations we obtain an effective dark energy sector that consists of both extra scalar degrees of freedom, and we determine various observables. We analyze two specific models and we obtain a cosmological behavior in agreement with observations, i.e. transition from matter to dark energy era, with the onset of cosmic acceleration. Additionally, for a particular range of the model parameters, the equation-of-state parameter of the effective dark energy sector can exhibit the phantom-divide crossing. These features reveal the capabilities of these theories, since they arise solely from the novel, higher-derivative terms.