Tanmay Kumar Poddar "Exorcising Ghosts with Gravitational Waves: Fourth-Order Gravity under Binary Constraints"

Thursday 18 Dec 2025, 11:30 → 13:00 Europe/Rome

Sala Fiore (Marconi Building) (La Sapienza)

We explore the infrared signatures of fourth-order gravitational theories, both ghost-laden and ghost-free extensions beyond General Relativity, by computing gravitational-wave emissions and confronting them with observations of binary systems (e.g., PSR B1913+16, PSR J1738+0333) and the GW170817 event. By analysing orbital-decay and chirp-mass evolution data, we derive unprecedented astrophysical bounds on the coupling constants and mass scales of these theories, thereby placing stringent constraints on higher-derivative modifications of gravity.