Speaker
Description
Gravitational-wave observations of coalescing binary black holes allow for novel tests of the strong-field regime of gravity. Using the detections of the LIGO and Virgo collaborations, we place the first constraints on higher-order curvature corrections that arise in the effective-field-theory extension of general relativity where higher-order powers in the Riemann tensor are included in the gravitational-field action. We construct gravitational-wave templates that describe the quasi-circular inspiral stage in this modified theory of gravity, and use Bayesian-selection methods to constrain this theory with respect to General Relativity. We focus on the two lowest-mass gravitational-wave events observed to date (GW151226 and GW170608), but describe a general strategy for updating constraints with more events.
