Gravitational wave constraints on dark sector models

We explore the constraints on dark sector models imposed by the recent observation of coincident gravitational waves and gamma rays from a binary neutron star merger, GW170817. Rather than focusing on specific models as has been considered by other authors, we explore this in the context of the equation of state approach of which the specific models are special cases. After confirming the strong constraints found by others for Horndeski, Einstein-Aether, and massive gravity models, we discuss how it is possible to construct models which might evade the constraints from GW170817 but still leading to cosmologically interesting modifications to gravity. Possible examples are “miracle cancellations” such as in f(R) models, non-local models and higher-order derivatives. The latter two rely on the dimensionless ratio of the wave number of the observed gravitational waves to the Hubble expansion rate being very large (∼1019) which is used to suppress modifications to the speed of gravitational waves.