Luminosity Distance Measurements Research Articles

Prospect of Precision Cosmology and Testing General Relativity using Binary Black Holes- Galaxies Cross-correlation

Abstract Modified theories of gravity predict deviations from General Relativity (GR) in the propagation of gravitational waves (GW) across cosmological distances. A key prediction is that the GW luminosity distance will vary with redshift, differing from the electromagnetic (EM) luminosity distance due to varying effective Planck mass. We introduce a model-independent, data-driven approach to explore these deviations using multi-messenger observations of dark standard sirens (Binary Black Holes, BBH). By combining GW luminosity distance measurements from dark sirens with Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) measurements, BBH redshifts inferred from cross-correlation with spectroscopic or photometric galaxy surveys, and sound horizon measurements from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), we can make a data-driven test of GR (jointly with the Hubble constant) as a function of redshift. Using the multi-messenger technique with the spectroscopic DESI galaxy survey, we achieve precise measurements of deviations in the effective Planck mass variation with redshift. For the Cosmic Explorer and Einstein Telescope (CEET), the best precision is approximately 3.6%, and for LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK), it is 7.4% at a redshift of $\rm {z = 0.425}$. Additionally, we can measure the Hubble constant with a precision of about 1.1% from CEET and 7% from LVK over five years of observation with a 75% duty cycle. We also explore the potential of cross-correlation with photometric galaxy surveys from the Rubin Observatory, extending measurements up to a redshift of $\rm {z \sim 2.5}$. This approach can reveal potential deviations from models affecting GW propagation using numerous dark standard sirens in synergy with DESI and the Rubin Observatory.

Impact of lensing of gravitational waves on the observed distribution of neutron star masses

The distribution of masses of neutron stars, particularly the maximum mass value, is considered a probe of their formation, evolution and internal physics (i.e., equation of state). This mass distribution could in principle be inferred from the detection of gravitational waves from binary neutron star mergers. Using mock catalogues of 105 dark sirens events, expected to be detected by Einstein Telescope over an operational period of , we show how the biased luminosity distance measurement induced by gravitational lensing affects the inferred redshift and mass of the merger. This results in higher observed masses than expected. Up to 2% of the events are predicted to fall above the maximum allowed neutron star mass depending on the intrinsic mass distribution and signal-to-noise ratio threshold adopted. The underlying true mass distribution and maximum mass could still be approximately recovered in the case of bright standard sirens.

Discovery of an Apparent Red, High-velocity Type Ia Supernova at z = 2.9 with JWST

We present the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) discovery of SN 2023adsy, a transient object located in a host galaxy JADES-GS+53.13485−27.82088 with a host spectroscopic redshift of 2.903 ± 0.007. The transient was identified in deep (JWST)/NIRCam imaging from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) program. Photometric and spectroscopic follow-up with NIRCam and NIRSpec, respectively, confirm the redshift and yield UV-NIR light-curve, NIR color, and spectroscopic information all consistent with a Type Ia classification. Despite its classification as a likely SN Ia, SN 2023adsy is both fairly red (c ∼ 0.9) despite a host galaxy with low extinction and has a high Ca ii velocity (19,000 ± 2000 km s−1) compared to the general population of SNe Ia. While these characteristics are consistent with some Ca-rich SNe Ia, particularly SN 2016hnk, SN 2023adsy is intrinsically brighter than the low-z Ca-rich population. Although such an object is too red for any low-z cosmological sample, we apply a fiducial standardization approach to SN 2023adsy and find that the SN 2023adsy luminosity distance measurement is in excellent agreement (≲1σ) with ΛCDM. Therefore unlike low-z Ca-rich SNe Ia, SN 2023adsy is standardizable and gives no indication that SN Ia standardized luminosities change significantly with redshift. A larger sample of distant SNe Ia is required to determine if SN Ia population characteristics at high z truly diverge from their low-z counterparts and to confirm that standardized luminosities nevertheless remain constant with redshift.

First constraints on non-minimally coupled Natural and Coleman-Weinberg inflation and massive neutrino self-interactions with Planck+BICEP/Keck

In this work, for the first time in literature, we study the predictions of non-minimally coupled Natural and Coleman-Weinberg potentials in the ns -r plane, and an extended ΛCDM model where we include non-standard self-interactions among massive neutrinos, mediated by a heavy scalar or vector boson. Constraints were derived using the Planck 2018 + BICEP/Keck 2018 datasets along with other data. For the inflationary potentials, we consider two different formulations in gravity that are non-minimally coupled to the scalar field of the inflaton: Metric and Palatini. We only consider the self-interaction to be present among τ-neutrinos and only at moderate strengths. This is because strong interactions among τ-neutrinos, or any strength self-interaction among electron- and muon-neutrinos, as well as any strength flavor-universal interactions, are strongly disfavoured from particle physics experiments.In terms of cosmological data, we use the latest public CMB datasets from Planck 2018 and BICEP/Keck 2018 collaborations, along with other data from CMB lensing, BAO, RSD, and SNe Ia luminosity distance measurements. We find that there are some situations where predictions from the inflationary models are ruled out at more than 2σ by the minimal ΛCDM+r model, but they are allowed in the self-interacting neutrino scenario.

A model-independent precision test of general relativity using bright standard sirens from ongoing and upcoming detectors

Abstract Gravitational waves (GWs) provide a new avenue to test Einstein’s General Relativity (GR) using the ongoing and upcoming GW detectors by measuring the redshift evolution of the effective Planck mass proposed by several modified theories of gravity. We propose a model-independent, data-driven approach to measure any deviation from GR in the GW propagation effect by combining multi-messenger observations of GW sources accompanied by EM counterparts, commonly known as bright sirens (Binary Neutron Star (BNS) and Neutron Star Black Hole systems (NSBH)). We show that by combining the GW luminosity distance measurements from bright sirens with the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) measurements derived from galaxy clustering, and the sound horizon measurements from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), we can make a data-driven reconstruction of deviation of the variation of the effective Planck mass (jointly with the Hubble constant) as a function of cosmic redshift. Using this technique, we achieve a precise measurement of GR with redshift (z) with a precision of approximately 7.9 % for BNSs at redshift z=0.075 and 10 % for NSBHs at redshift z=0.225 with 5 years of observation from LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA network of detectors. Employing Cosmic Explorer and Einstein Telescope for just 1 year yields the best precision of about 1.62 % for BNSs and 2 % for NSBHs at redshift z=0.5 on the evolution of the frictional term, and a similar precision up to z=1. This measurement can discover potential deviation from any kind of model that impacts GW propagation with ongoing and upcoming observations.

Probing early modification of gravity with Planck, ACT and SPT

We consider a model of early modified gravity (EMG) that was recently proposed as a candidate to resolve the Hubble tension. The model consists of a scalar field σ with a nonminimal coupling (NMC) to the Ricci curvature of the form F(σ) = M pl 2+ξσ 2 and an effective mass induced by a quartic potential V(σ) = λσ 4/4. We present the first analyses of the EMG model in light of the latest ACT DR4 and SPT-3G data in combination with full Planck data, and find a ≳ 2σ preference for a non-zero EMG contribution from a combination of primary CMB data alone, mostly driven by ACT-DR4 data. This is different from popular `Early Dark Energy' models, which are detected only when the high-ℓ information from Planck temperature is removed. We find that the NMC plays a key role in controlling the evolution of density perturbations that is favored by the data over the minimally coupled case. Including measurements of supernovae luminosity distance from Pantheon+, baryonic acoustic oscillations and growth factor from BOSS, and CMB lensing of Planck leaves the preference unaffected. In the EMG model, the tension with SH 0ES is alleviated from ∼ 6σ to ∼ 3σ. Further adding SH 0ES data raises the detection of the EMG model above 5σ.

Development of a model to investigate the effect of the bias in SNIa measurements related to the inhomogeneity of space

It has been suggested recently that the apparent accelerated expansion of the universe could be explained by a bias in the SNIa measurements. Such events indeed occur mainly in overdense regions, where matter is located, and whose dynamics can perhaps not been considered as representative of the one of the universe. In this article, we develop a model to investigate in more detail the effect of this bias. This model depends on one single parameter, related to the void fraction of space, and leads to simple analytical relations. We determine in particular the average metric tensor in overdense regions, and deduce that the scale factor and the rate at which proper time progresses in such regions differ significantly from the corresponding values expected on the average space. We then quantitatively deduce how redshift and luminosity distance measurements are affected by the bias, taking into account the perturbation of the metric tensor. Using a value for the void fraction corresponding to the order of magnitude found in the literature, we show that the model is able to predict a distance modulus versus redshift relation being in excellent agreement with the one corresponding to a universe characterized by Omega _{m,0} = 0.3 and Omega _{Lambda ,0} = 0.7.

Exploring bulk viscous unified scenarios with gravitational waves standard sirens

ABSTRACT We consider the unified bulk viscous scenarios and constrain them using the Cosmic Microwave Background observations from Planck 2018 and the Pantheon sample from Type Ia supernovae. Then we generate the luminosity distance measurements from ${\cal O}(10^3)$ mock Gravitational Wave Standard Sirens (GWSS) events for the proposed Einstein Telescope. We then combine these mock luminosity distance measurements from the GWSS with the current cosmological probes in order to forecast how the mock GWSS data could be effective in constraining these bulk viscous scenarios. Our results show that a non-zero time dependent bulk viscosity in the universe sector is strongly preferred by the current cosmological probes and will possibly be confirmed at many standard deviations by the future GWSS measurements. We further mention that the addition of GWSS data can significantly reduce the uncertainties of the key cosmological parameters obtained from the usual cosmological probes employed in this work.

Hints of early dark energy in Planck , SPT, and ACT data: New physics or systematics?

We investigate constraints on early dark energy (EDE) using ACT DR4, SPT-3G 2018, Planck polarization, and restricted Planck temperature data (at $\ell<650$), finding a $3.3\sigma$ preference ($\Delta\chi^2=-16.2$ for 3 additional degrees of freedom) for EDE over $\Lambda$CDM. The EDE contributes a maximum fractional energy density of $f_{\rm EDE}(z_c)=0.163^{+0.047}_{-0.04}$ at a redshift $z_c=3357\pm200$ and leads to a CMB inferred value of the Hubble constant $H_0=74.2^{+1.9}_{-2.1}$ km/s/Mpc. We find that Planck and ACT DR4 data provide the majority of the improvement in $\chi^2$, and that the inclusion of SPT-3G pulls the posterior of $f_{\rm EDE}(z_c)$ away from $\Lambda$CDM. This is the first time that a moderate preference for EDE has been reported for these three combined CMB data sets. We find that including measurements of supernovae luminosity distances and the baryon acoustic oscillation standard ruler only minimally affects the preference ($3.0\sigma$), while measurements that probe the clustering of matter at late times - the lensing potential power spectrum from Planck and $f \sigma_8$ from BOSS - decrease the significance of the preference to 2.6$\sigma$. Conversely, adding a prior on the $H_0$ value as reported by the SH0ES collaboration increases the preference to the $4-5\sigma$ level. In the absence of this prior, the inclusion of Planck TT data at $\ell>1300$ reduces the preference from $3.0\sigma$ to $2.3\sigma$ and the constraint on $f_{\rm EDE}(z_c)$ becomes compatible with $\Lambda$CDM at $1\sigma$. We explore whether systematic errors in the Planck polarization data may affect our conclusions and find that changing the TE polarization efficiencies significantly reduces the Planck preference for EDE. More work will be necessary to establish whether these hints for EDE within CMB data alone are the sole results of systematic errors or an opening to new physics.

On detecting stellar binary black holes via the LISA-Taiji network

The detection of gravitational waves (GWs) by ground-based laser interferometer GW observatories (LIGO/Virgo) reveals a population of stellar binary black holes (sBBHs) with (total) masses up to ∼ 150M ⊙, which are potential sources for space-based GW detectors, such as LISA and Taiji. In this paper, we investigate in details on the possibility of detecting sBBHs by the LISA-Taiji network in future. We adopt the sBBH merger rate density constrained by LIGO/VIRGO observations to randomly generate mock sBBHs samples. Assuming an observation period of 4 years, we find that the LISA-Taiji network may detect several tens (or at least several) sBBHs with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) > 8 (or > 15), a factor 2 − 3 times larger than that by only using LISA or Taiji observations. Among these sBBHs, no more than a few that can merge during the 4-year observation period. If extending the observation period to 10 years, then the LISA-Taiji network may detect about one hundred (or twenty) sBBHs with SNR> 8 (or > 15), among them about twenty (or at least several) can merge within the observation period. Our results suggest that the LISA-Taiji network may be able to detect at least a handful to twenty or more sBBHs even if assuming a conservative SNR threshold (15) for “detection”, which enables multi-band GW observations by space and ground-based GW detectors. We also further estimate the uncertainties in the parameter estimations of the sBBH systems “detected” by the LISA-Taiji network. We find that the relative errors in the luminosity distance measurements and sky localization are mostly in the range of 0.05 − 0.2 and 1 − 100deg2, respectively, for these sBBHs.

Using gravitational wave parallax to measure the Hubble parameter with pulsar timing arrays

We demonstrate how pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) can, in principle, yield a purely gravitational wave (GW) measurement of the luminosity distance and comoving distance to a supermassive black hole binary source, hence providing an estimate of the source redshift and the Hubble constant. The luminosity distance is derived through standard measurement of the chirp mass, which for the slowly evolving binary sources in the PTA band can be found by comparing the frequency of GW-timing residuals at the Earth compared to those at distant pulsars in the array. The comoving distance can be measured from GW-timing parallax caused by the curvature of the GW wavefronts. This can be detected for single sources at the high-frequency end of the PTA band out to Gpc distances with a future PTA containing well-timed pulsars out to $\mathcal{O}(10)$ kpc, when the pulsar distance is constrained to less than a GW wavelength. Such a future PTA, with $\gtrsim 30$ pulsars with precise distance measurements between 1 and 20~kpc, could measure the Hubble constant at the tens of percent level for a single source at $0.1 \lesssim z \lesssim 1.5$. At $z \lesssim 0.1$, the luminosity and comoving distances are too similar to disentangle, unless the fractional error in the luminosity distance measurement is decreased below 10%. At $z\gtrsim 1.5$, this measurement will likely be restricted by a signal-to-noise ratio threshold. Generally, clarification of the different types of cosmological distances that can be probed by PTAs, and their relation to pulsar distance measurements is important for ongoing PTA experiments aimed at detecting and characterizing GWs.

Learning How to Surf: Reconstructing the Propagation and Origin of Gravitational Waves with Gaussian Processes

Abstract Soon, the combination of electromagnetic and gravitational signals will open the door to a new era of gravitational-wave (GW) cosmology. It will allow us to test the propagation of tensor perturbations across cosmic time and study the distribution of their sources over large scales. In this work, we show how machine-learning techniques can be used to reconstruct new physics by leveraging the spatial correlation between GW mergers and galaxies. We explore the possibility of jointly reconstructing the modified GW propagation law and the linear bias of GW sources, as well as breaking the slight degeneracy between them by combining multiple techniques. We show predictions roughly based on a network of Einstein Telescopes combined with a high-redshift galaxy survey (z ≲ 3). Moreover, we investigate how these results can be rescaled to other instrumental configurations. In the long run, we find that obtaining accurate and precise luminosity distance measurements (extracted directly from the individual GW signals) will be the most important factor to consider when maximizing the constraining power.

Calibrating systematic errors in the distance determination with the luminosity–distance space large-scale structure of dark sirens and its potential applications

ABSTRACT The cosmological luminosity–distance can be measured from gravitational wave (GW) standard sirens, free of astronomical distance ladders, and the associated systematics. However, it may still contain systematics arising from various astrophysical, cosmological, and experimental sources. With the large amount of dark standard sirens of upcoming third generation GW experiments, such potential systematic bias, can be diagnosed and corrected by statistical tools of the large-scale structure of the universe. We estimate that, by cross-correlating the dark siren luminosity–distance space distribution and galaxy redshift space distribution, multiplicative error m in the luminosity distance measurement can be constrained with 1σ uncertainty σm ∼ 0.1. This is already able to distinguish some binary black hole origin scenarios unambiguously. Significantly better constraints and therefore more applications may be achieved by more advanced GW experiments.

Projected Cosmological Constraints from Strongly Lensed Supernovae with the Roman Space Telescope

Abstract One of the primary mission objectives of the Roman Space Telescope is to investigate the nature of dark energy with a variety of methods. Observations of Type I supernovae (SNe Ia) will be one of the principal anchors of the Roman cosmology program through traditional luminosity distance measurements. This SNe Ia cosmology program can provide another valuable cosmological probe, without altering the strategy of the mission: time delay cosmography with gravitationally lensed supernova (SN). In this work, we forecast lensed SN cosmology constraints with the Roman Space Telescope, while providing useful tools for future work. Using the anticipated characteristics of the Roman SNe Ia survey, we have constructed mock catalogs of expected resolved lensing systems, as well as strongly lensed Type Ia and core-collapse (CC) SN light curves, including microlensing effects. We predict Roman will find ∼11 lensed SNe Ia and ∼20 CCSNe, depending on the survey strategy. Next, we estimate the time delay precision obtainable with Roman (Ia: ∼2 days, CC: ∼3 days), and use a Fisher matrix analysis to derive projected constraints on H 0,Ω m , and the dark energy equation of state, w, for each SNe Ia survey strategy. A strategy optimized for the discovery of high-redshift SNe Ia is preferred when considering the constraints possible from both SNe Ia and lensed SN cosmology, also delivering ∼1.5 times more lensed SNe than other proposed survey strategies.

Testing the general theory of relativity using gravitational wave propagation from dark standard sirens

ABSTRACT Alternative theories of gravity predict modifications in the propagation of gravitational waves (GW) through space–time. One of the smoking-gun predictions of such theories is the change in the GW luminosity distance to GW sources as a function of redshift relative to the electromagnetic (EM) luminosity distance expected from EM probes. We propose a multimessenger test of the theory of general relativity from the propagation of GWs by combining EM and GW observations to resolve these issues from GW sources without EM counterparts (which are also referred to as dark standard sirens). By using the relation between the geometric distances accessible from baryon acoustic oscillation measurements, and luminosity distance measurements from the GW sources, we can measure any deviation from the general theory of relativity via the GW sources of unknown redshift that will be detectable by networks of GW detectors such as LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA. Using this technique, the fiducial value of the frictional term can be measured to a precision $\Xi _0=0.98^{+0.04}_{-0.23}$ after marginalizing over redshift dependence, cosmological parameters, and GW bias parameters with ∼3500 dark standard sirens of masses $30\, \rm M_\odot$ each distributed up to redshift z = 0.5. For a fixed redshift dependence, a value of $\Xi _0=0.99^{+0.02}_{-0.02}$ can be measured with a similar number of dark sirens. Application of our methodology to the far more numerous dark standard sirens detectable with next-generation GW detectors, such as LISA, Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer, will allow achievement of higher accuracy than possible from use of bright standard sirens.

Parameter interplay of CMB temperature, space curvature, and expansion rate

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature, $T$, surely the most precisely measured cosmological parameter, has been inferred from {\it local} measurements of the blackbody spectrum to an exquisite precision of 1 part in $\sim 4700$. On the other hand, current precision allows inference of other basic cosmological parameters at the $\sim 1\%$ level from CMB power spectra, galaxy correlation and lensing, luminosity distance measurements of supernovae, as well as other cosmological probes. A basic consistency check of the standard cosmological model is an independent inference of $T$ at recombination. In this work we first use the recent Planck data, supplemented by either the first year data release of the dark energy survey (DES), baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) data, and the Pantheon SNIa catalog, to extract $T$ at the $\sim 1\%$ precision level. We then explore correlations between $T$, the Hubble parameter, $H_{0}$, and the global spatial curvature parameter, $\Omega_{k}$. Our parameter estimation indicates that imposing the local constraint from the SH0ES experiment on $H_{0}$ results in significant statistical preference for departure at recombination from the locally inferred $T$. However, only moderate evidence is found in this analysis for tension between local and cosmological estimates of $T$, if the local constraint on $H_{0}$ is relaxed. All other dataset combinations that include the CMB with either BAO, SNIa, or both, disfavor the addition of a new free temperature parameter even in the presence of the local constraint on $H_{0}$. Analysis limited to the Planck dataset suggests the temperature at recombination was higher than expected at recombination at the $\gtrsim 95\%$ confidence level if space is globally flat.

Forecast constraints on anisotropic stress in dark energy using gravitational waves

ABSTRACT It is always interesting to investigate how well can a future experiment perform with respect to others (present or future ones). Cosmology is really an exciting field where a lot of puzzles are still unknown. In this paper, we consider a generalized dark energy (DE) scenario where anisotropic stress is present. We constrain this generalized cosmic scenario with an aim to investigate how gravitational waves standard sirens (GWSS) may constrain the anisotropic stress, which, according to the standard cosmological probes, remains unconstrained. In order to do this, we generate the luminosity distance measurements from $\mathcal {O} (10^3)$ mock GW events that match the expected sensitivity of the Einstein Telescope. Our analyses report that, first of all, GWSS can give better constraints on various cosmological parameters compared to the usual cosmological probes, but the viscous sound speed appearing due to the DE anisotropic stress is totally unconstrained even after the inclusion of GWSS.

Imprints of the redshift evolution of double neutron star merger rate on the signal-to-noise ratio distribution

ABSTRACT Proposed third-generation gravitational wave interferometers such as Cosmic Explorer (CE) will have the sensitivity to observe double neutron star mergers (DNS) up to a redshift of ∼5 with good signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). We argue that the comoving spatial distribution of DNS mergers leaves a unique imprint on the statistical distribution of SNRs of the detected DNS mergers. Hence, the SNR distribution of DNS mergers will facilitate a novel probe of their redshift evolution independent of the luminosity distance measurements. We consider detections of DNS mergers by the CE and study the SNR distribution for different possible redshift evolution models of DNSs and employ Anderson Darling p-value statistic to demonstrate the distinguishability between these different models. We find that a few hundreds of DNS mergers in the CE era will allow us to distinguish between different models of redshift evolution. We further apply the method for various SNR distributions arising due to different merger delay-time and star formation rate (SFR) models and show that for a given SFR model, the SNR distributions are sensitive to the delay-time distributions. Finally, we investigate the effects of sub-threshold events in distinguishing between different merger rate distribution models.

Maximum cosmological information from type Ia supernova observations

Type-Ia supernova observations yield estimates of the luminosity distance, which includes not only the background luminosity distance, but also the fluctuation due to inhomogeneities in the Universe. In particular, the spatial correlation of the host galaxies is a dominant source of the fluctuation in the luminosity distance measurements. Utilizing the recent theoretical framework that accurately quantifies the information contents accounting for the three-dimensional correlation of the observables on the past-light cone, we compute the maximum cosmological information obtainable from idealized supernova surveys as a function of maximum redshift $z_m$. Here we consider two cosmological parameters $\Omega_m$ and $w_0$ and show that these parameters can be constrained at maximum 1% levels in an idealized survey with $z_m=1$. We discuss how these fundamental limits set by cosmic variance can be overcome.

Constraining the evolution of the baryon fraction in the IGM with FRB and H(z) data

Extragalactic dispersion measures (DMs) obtained from observations of fast radio bursts (FRBs) are an excellent tool for probing intergalactic medium (IGM) and for conducting cosmography. However, the DM contribution from the IGM (DMIGM) depends on the fraction of baryon mass in the IGM, fIGM, which is not properly constrained. As fIGM(z) is geometrically related to the Hubble parameter H(z) and DMIGM(z), here we propose that combining two independent measurements of FRBs and H(z) in similar redshift ranges provides a novel and cosmology-free method to constrain the evolution of fIGM(z). Under the assumption that fIGM is evolving with redshift in a functional form, we forecast that the evolution of fIGM(z) can be well inferred in a combined analysis of ∼3000 DMIGM(z) derived from FRBs and ∼50 H(z) derived from the Hubble parameter data. Though the efficiency of our method is not as good as that of the other model-independent method involving the joint measurements of DM and luminosity distance of FRBs, our method offers a new model-independent way to constrain fIGM(z).