Black hole binaries in cubic Horndeski theories
Pau Figueras, Tiago França
Abstract
We study black hole binary mergers in certain cubic Horndeski theories of gravity, treating them fully nonlinearly. In the regime of validity of effective field theory, the mismatch of the gravitational wave strain between Horndeski and general relativity (coupled to a scalar field) can be as large as 10%--13% in the Advanced LIGO mass range. The initial data and coupling constants are chosen such the theory remains in the weakly coupled regime throughout the evolution. In all cases that we have explored, we observe that the waveform in the Horndeski theory is shifted by an amount much larger than the smallness parameter that controls the initial data. This effect is generic and may be present in other theories of gravity involving higher derivatives.