# Fundamental physics implications on higher-curvature theories from the binary black hole signals in the LIGO-Virgo Catalog GWTC-1

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how current gravitational wave detections from LIGO-Virgo can constrain higher-curvature modifications to general relativity, focusing on Einstein-dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet and dynamical Chern-Simons theories, with some bounds established.

## Contribution

It provides the first constraints on Einstein-dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet gravity from binary black hole signals, highlighting the potential of gravitational-wave astronomy to test fundamental physics.

## Key findings

- GW151226 and GW170608 constrain Einstein-dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet gravity
- Dynamical Chern-Simons gravity remains unconstrained by current data
- Low-mass black hole events are most effective for testing higher-curvature theories

## Abstract

Gravitational-wave astronomy offers not only new vistas into the realm of astrophysics, but it also opens an avenue for probing, for the first time, general relativity in its strong-field, nonlinear, and dynamical regime, where the theory's predictions manifest themselves in their full glory. We present a study of whether the gravitational wave events detected so far by the LIGO-Virgo scientific collaborations can be used to probe higher-curvature corrections to general relativity. In particular, we focus on two examples: Einstein-dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet and dynamical Chern-Simons gravity. We find that the two events with a low-mass $m \approx 7 M_{\odot}$ BH (GW151226 and GW170608) place stringent constraints on Einstein-dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet gravity, ${\alpha}^{1/2}_{\rm EdGB} \lesssim 5.6$ km, whereas dynamical Chern-Simons gravity remains unconstrained by the gravitational-wave observations analyzed.