We constrain the Hu-Sawicki and Starobinsky $f(R)$ gravity models utilizing current electromagnetic (PP+CC, Planck and DESI2) datasets and simulate standard siren catalogs based on the resulting best-fit parameters. We demonstrate that the simulated SS data provide complementary sensitivity to the modified gravitational wave propagation friction term, thereby enhancing the discriminating power between $f(R)$ gravity and the $Λ$CDM model. However, we note that standard sirens do not offer a viable resolution to the Hubble tension in this analysis, as the inferred constraints are predominantly driven by the fiducial cosmologies adopted in the simulations. Regarding the specific models, we find that for the Hu-Sawicki scenario, several data combinations favor $F_{RR0}<0$, implying potential theoretical instabilities. And, for the Starobinsky model, while EM-only constraints are nearly symmetric between the two parameter branches ($b<0$ and $b>0$), the inclusion of SS constraints introduces mild asymmetries, revealing the sensitivity of SS observables to the curvature dependence of the theory. Future truly independent standard siren observations would be crucial for a definitive assessment of $f(R)$ gravity as an alternative to $Λ$CDM.
Cosmological constraints and standard sirens forecasts for non-dynamical dark energy in Horndeski gravity
Scuola Superiore Meridionale（南方高等学院）；Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)（意大利国家核物理研究所）；Universidad de Salamanca（萨拉曼卡大学）；Instituto Universitario de Física Fundamental y Matemáticas (IUFFyM)（基础物理与数学大学研究所）；Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”（那不勒斯费德里科二世大学）；Università di Salerno（萨莱诺大学）
In this dissertation, we study two cosmological models based on $f(Q)$ gravity. We resort to mock catalogs of standard siren (SS) events to see whether data from future gravitational wave (GWs) observatories will be able to distinguish these models from $Λ$CDM. The first model is the most general $f(Q)$ formulation that replicates a $Λ$CDM background, with deviations appearing only at the perturbative level. It has one additional free parameter compared to $Λ$CDM, $α$, which when set to zero falls back to $Λ$CDM. We show that LIGO-Virgo is unable to constrain $α$, due to the high error and low…
A variety of gauges are used in cosmological perturbation theory. These are often chosen in order to attribute physical properties to a particular choice of coordinates, or otherwise to simplify the form of the resultant equations. Calculations are then performed with the understanding that they could have been done in any gauge, and that transformations between different gauges can be made at will. We show that this logic can be extended to the domain of large density contrasts, where different types of perturbative expansion are required, but that the way in which gauges can be chosen in the…
Modified gravity theories with an effective Newton constant that varies over cosmological timescales generally predict a different gravitational wave luminosity distance than General Relativity. While this holds for a uniform variation, we show that if locally screened at the source and at the observer as required to pass stringent astrophysical tests of gravity, the General Relativistic distance is restored. In the absence of such a screening, the same effect must modify electromagnetic luminosity distances inferred from supernovae Type Ia, to the extent that the effects can cancel in the com…
Cosmological perturbations in the energy-momentum squared gravity theory: constraints from gravitational wave standard sirens and redshift space distortions
We present a convolutional neural network to classify distinct cosmological scenarios based on the statistically similar weak-lensing maps they generate. Modified gravity (MG) models that include massive neutrinos can mimic the standard concordance model ($Λ$CDM) in terms of Gaussian weak-lensing observables. An inability to distinguish viable models that are based on different physics potentially limits a deeper understanding of the fundamental nature of cosmic acceleration. For a fixed redshift of sources, we demonstrate that a machine learning network trained on simulated convergence maps c…
Unified dark matter cosmologies economically combine missing matter and energy in a single fluid. Of these models, the standard Chaplygin gas is theoretically motivated, but faces problems in explaining large scale structure if linear perturbations are directly imposed on the homogeneous fluid. However, early formation of a clustered component of small halos is sufficient (and necessary) for hierarchical clustering to proceed in a CDM-like component as in the standard scenario, with the remaining homogeneous component acting as dark energy. We examine this possibility. A linear analysis shows …
Testing a subset of viable cosmological models beyond General Relativity (GR), with implications for cosmic acceleration and the Dark Energy associated with it, is within the reach of Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) and a part of its endeavor. Deviations from GR-w(z)CDM models can manifest in the growth rate of structure and lensing, as well as in screening effects on non-linear scales. We explore the constraining power of small-scale deviations predicted by the f(R) Hu-Sawicki Modified Gravity (MG) candidate, by emulating this model with COLA (COmoving Lagrangian Acce…
We propose a new framework for studying the cosmology of $f(R)$ gravity which completely avoids using the reconstruction programme. This allows us to easily obtain a qualitative feel of how much the $Λ$CDM model differs from other $f(R)$ theories of gravity at the level of linear perturbation theory for theories that share the same background dynamics. This is achieved by using the standard model independent cosmographic parameters to develop a new dynamical system formulation of $f(R)$ gravity which is free from the limitation of having to first specify the functional form of $f(R)$. By consi…
In this paper we analyze the implications of gravitational waves (GWs) as standard sirens on the modified gravity models by using the third-generation gravitational wave detector, i.e., the Einstein Telescope. Two viable models in $f(R)$ theories within the Palatini formalism are considered in our analysis ($f_{1}(\mathcal{R})=\mathcal{R}-\fracβ{\mathcal{R}^{n}}$ and $f_{2}(\mathcal{R})=\mathcal{R}+α\ln{\mathcal{R}}-β$), with the combination of simulated GW data and the latest electromagnetic (EM) observational data (including the recently released Pantheon type Ia supernovae sample, the cosmi…
Attempts at constraining theories of late time accelerated expansion often assume broad priors for the parameters in their phenomenological description. Focusing on shift-symmetric scalar-tensor theories with standard gravitational wave speed, we show how a more careful analysis of their dynamical evolution leads to much narrower priors. In doing so, we propose a simple and accurate parametrisation of these theories, capturing the redshift dependence of the equation of state, $w(z)$, and the kinetic braiding parameter, $α_{\rm B}(z)$, with only two parameters each, and derive their statistical…
In a universe where, according to the standard cosmological models, some 97% of the total mass-energy is still "missing in action" it behooves us to spend at least a little effort critically assessing and exploring radical alternatives. Among possible, (dare we say plausible), nonstandard but superficially viable models, those spacetimes conformal to the standard Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker class of cosmological models play a very special role --- these models have the unique and important property of permitting large non-perturbative geometric deviations from Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robert…
As an important candidate gravity theory alternative to dark energy, a class of $f(R)$ modified gravity, which introduces a perturbation of the Ricci scalar $R$ in the Einstein-Hilbert action, has been extensively applied to cosmology to explain the acceleration of the universe. In this paper, we focus on the recently-released VLBI observations of the compact structure in intermediate-luminosity quasars combined with the angular-diameter-distance measurements from galaxy clusters, which consists of 145 data points performing as individual cosmological standard rulers in the redshift range $0.0…
Theories of massive gravity with one or two dynamical metrics generically lack stable and observationally-viable cosmological solutions that are distinguishable from $Λ$CDM. We consider an extension to trimetric gravity, with three interacting spin-2 fields which are not plagued by the Boulware-Deser ghost. We systematically explore every combination with two free parameters in search of background cosmologies that are competitive with $Λ$CDM. For each case we determine whether the expansion history satisfies viability criteria, and whether or not it contains beyond-$Λ$CDM phenomenology. Among…
With the use of simulated supernova catalogs, we show that the statefinder parameters turn out to be poorly and biased estimated by standard cosmography. To this end, we compute their standard deviations and several bias statistics on cosmologies near the concordance model, demonstrating that these are very large, making standard cosmography unsuitable for future and wider compilations of data. To overcome this issue, we propose a new method that consists in introducing the series of the Hubble function into the luminosity distance, instead of considering the usual direct Taylor expansions of …
The Beyond Horndeski class of alternative gravity theories allow for Self-accelerating de-Sitter cosmologies with no need for a cosmological constant. This makes them viable alternatives to $Λ$CDM and so testing their small-scale predictions against General Relativity is of paramount importance. These theories generically predict deviations in both the Newtonian force law and the gravitational lensing of light inside extended objects. Therefore, by simultaneously fitting the X-ray and lensing profiles of galaxy clusters new constraints can be obtained. In this work, we apply this methodology t…
We propose a modified theory of gravitation constructed by the addition of the term $f(T_{μν}T^{μν})$ to the Einstein-Hilbert action, and elaborate a particular case $f(T_{μν}T^{μν})=α(T_{μν}T^{μν})^η$, where $α$ and $η$ are real constants, dubbed as energy-momentum powered gravity (EMPG). We search for viable cosmologies arising from EMPG especially in the context of the late-time accelerated expansion of the Universe. We investigate the ranges of the EMPG parameters $(α,η)$ on theoretical as well as observational grounds leading to the late-time acceleration of the Universe with pressureless…
We study a new model of Energy-Momentum Squared Gravity (EMSG), called Energy-Momentum Log Gravity (EMLG), constructed by the addition of the term $f(T_{μν}T^{μν})=α\ln(λ\,T_{μν}T^{μν})$, envisaged as a correction, to the Einstein-Hilbert action with cosmological constant $Λ$. The choice of this modification is made as a specific way of including new terms in the right-hand side of the Einstein field equations, resulting in constant effective inertial mass density and, importantly, leading to an explicit exact solution of the matter energy density in terms of redshift. We look for viable cosmo…
We further investigate the dark energy model based on the Finsler geometry inspired osculating Barthel-Kropina cosmology. The Barthel-Kropina cosmological approach is based on the introduction of a Barthel connection in an osculating Finsler geometry, with the connection having the property that it is the Levi-Civita connection of a Riemannian metric. From the generalized Friedmann equations of the Barthel-Kropina model, obtained by assuming that the background Riemannian metric is of the Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker type, an effective geometric dark energy component can be generated, w…
We analyze the spectrum of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies in the timescape cosmology: a potentially viable alternative to homogeneous isotropic cosmologies without dark energy. We exploit the fact that the timescape cosmology is extremely close to the standard cosmology at early epochs to adapt existing numerical codes to produce CMB anisotropy spectra, and to match these as closely as possible to the timescape expansion history. A variety of matching methods are studied and compared. We perform Markov Chain Monte Carlo analyses on the parameter space, and fit CMB multipoles $5…
