• Accepted Paper

Modeling uncertainties in modified gravity predictions for the stochastic gravitational-wave background

Rodrigo Fraga and Rafael C. Nunes

Phys. Rev. D - Accepted 3 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/fftm-rssv

Abstract

We investigate the impact of modified gravity on the stochasticgravitational-wave background (SGWB) generated by a cosmological population of unresolved binary black hole mergers. We consider two complementary classes of beyond-General Relativity (GR) effects: waveform-generation modifications described within the parametrized post-Einsteinian (ppE) framework and cosmological propagation effects associated with a modified gravitational-wave luminosity distance. Astrophysical uncertainties in the binary black hole population are consistently incorporated using a Power-Law plus Peak mass model combined with a Madau–Dickinson merger-rate evolution. Using SGWB forecasts for Advanced LIGO at O5 design sensitivity, the Einstein Telescope (ET), Cosmic Explorer (CE), , we perform injection-recovery analyses jointly varying modified-gravity and astrophysical population parameters, including a joint injection in which waveform-generation and propagation deviations are present simultaneously. We show that frequency-dependent ppE corrections produce characteristic distortions in the SGWB spectral shape and can be meaningfully constrained by third-generation detectors, with the CE+ET network providing the tightest constraints. In contrast, modified propagation effects mainly induce smooth amplitude rescalings, are recovered with systematically lower accuracy, and exhibit stronger degeneracies with the merger-rate evolution. In the joint injection, the spectral-shape information is preserved while the amplitude-like parameters retain a residual mutual degeneracy. Our results demonstrate that future SGWB observations will provide a complementary probe of gravitational physics across cosmic history and may open new avenues for testing deviations from GR beyond individually resolved compact-binary events.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation

If the author has provided any supplemental materials with this article they will be available upon publication of the version of record.

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation