Current and future constraints on cosmology and modified gravitational wave friction from binary black holes

Understand

Gravitational wave (GW) standard sirens are well-established probes with which one can measure cosmological parameters, and are complementary to other probes like the cosmic microwave background or supernovae standard candles.

• Here we focus on dark GW sirens, specifically binary black holes (BBHs) for which there is only GW data.
• Our approach relies on the assumption of a source frame mass model for the BBH distribution, and we consider four models that are representative of the BBH population observed so far.
• In addition to inferring cosmological and mass model parameters, we use dark sirens to test modified gravity theories.