Francesco Iacovelli

Francesco Iacovelli

Assistant Research Scientist (Miller Postdoctoral Fellow) at Johns Hopkins University

Modified gravitational wave propagation and the binary neutron star mass function

Authors: A. Finke, S. Foffa, F. Iacovelli, M. Maggiore, and M. Mancarella

Published:

Summary

We show how modified GW propagation can impact the reconstruction of the BNS mass distribution, thus giving hints of deviations from GR.

Contribution

I produced most of the results, figures, and code, developing also a useful data visualization technique.

Abstract

Modified gravitational wave (GW) propagation is a generic phenomenon in modified gravity. It affects the reconstruction of the redshift of coalescing binaries from the luminosity distance measured by GW detectors, and therefore the reconstruction of the actual masses of the component compact stars from the observed (‘detector-frame’) masses. We show that, thanks to the narrowness of the mass distribution of binary neutron stars, this effect can provide a clear signature of modified gravity, particularly for the redshifts explored by third generation GW detectors such as Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer.

arXiv: 2108.04065 [gr-qc]

Publisher DOI: 10.1016/j.dark.2022.100994