Gravitational Wave luminosity distance in viscous cosmological models

TL;DR

This paper investigates how shear viscosity in cosmological models affects the gravitational wave luminosity distance-redshift relation, predicting a distinctive redshift-dependent ratio that can be tested with future multi-messenger observations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel effect of shear viscosity on gravitational wave propagation, providing a specific redshift dependence of the luminosity distance ratio that can distinguish viscous cosmologies from modified gravity theories.

Findings

Shear viscosity induces a friction term in gravitational wave propagation.

The ratio $d_{L}^{GW}/d_{L}^{EM}$ approaches a constant at high redshift.

At low redshift, the ratio scales linearly with shear viscosity.

Abstract

We study the so-called Gravitational Wave luminosity distance-redshift relation $d_L^{\,GW}(z)$ during cosmological eras driven by non-perfect fluids. In particular, we show that the presence of a shear viscosity in the energy momentum tensor turns out to be the most relevant effect. Within this scenario, a constant shear viscosity imprints the gravitational wave propagation through a friction term $\delta(z)$ with a uniquely given redshift dependence. This peculiar evolution predicts a specific shape for the ratio $d_{L}^{GW}/d_{L}^{EM}$ which tends to a constant value when the sources are at $z\gtrsim 1$, whereas scales linearly with the shear viscosity at lower redshifts, regardless of the value of $\Omega_{m0}$. According to our final discussion, the predicted redshift dependence $\delta(z)$ provided by a shear viscosity could be tested by upcoming surveys of multi-messenger sources against analogous scenarios provided by some widely studied theories of modified gravity.