Are Parametrized Tests of General Relativity with Gravitational Waves Robust to Unknown Higher Post-Newtonian Order Effects?

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that single-parameter tests of general relativity using gravitational wave data are robust against unknown higher post-Newtonian order effects, and including higher order terms can even strengthen constraints.

Contribution

The study shows that single-parameter parametrized tests remain valid and are improved by higher post-Newtonian order information for theories with a post-Newtonian expansion.

Findings

Single-parameter tests are robust to higher order effects.

Including higher post-Newtonian terms can strengthen constraints.

Analysis applies to shift-symmetric scalar Gauss-Bonnet theory.

Abstract

Gravitational wave observations have great potential to reveal new information about the fundamental nature of gravity, but extracting that information can be difficult. One popular technique is the parametrized inspiral test of general relativity (a realization of the parametrized post-Einsteinian framework), where the gravitational waveform, as calculated in Einstein's theory as a series expansion in the orbital velocity, is parametrically deformed at a given set of orders in velocity. However, most current approaches usually only analyze the data while considering a single, specific modification at a time. Are then constraints placed with a single modification robust to our ignorance of higher post-Newtonian order corrections? We show here that for a wide class of theories, specifically those that admit a post-Newtonian expansion, single-parameter tests are indeed robust. In particular, through a series of full Bayesian parameter estimation studies on several different sets of synthetic data, we show that single-parameter constraints are not degraded but rather are improved by the inclusion of multiple parameters, provided one includes information about the mathematical structure of the series. We then exemplify this with a specific theory of gravity, shift-symmetric scalar Gauss-Bonnet theory, where the waveform has been calculated to higher post-Newtonian orders than leading. We show that the inclusion of these higher order terms strengthens single-parameter constraints, instead of weakening them, and that the strengthening is very mild. This analysis therefore provides strong evidence that single-parameter post-Einsteinian tests of general relativity are robust to ignorance of high post-Newtonian order terms in the general relativistic deformations.