Constraining the Modified Friction in Gravitational Wave Propagation with Precessing Black Hole Binaries

A broad class of modified gravities can result in a modified friction effect in the propagation of gravitational waves (GWs). This effect changes the amplitude-damping rate of GWs during their propagation in the cosmological distance and thus modifies the standard luminosity distance of GWs in general relativity. Therefore, one can constrain this modified friction by measuring both the luminosity distance and redshift of the GW sources. In this paper, we investigate the prospects of constraining such modified friction effect by using the precessing binary black holes with ground-based GW detectors. For this purpose, we consider 20 precessing events detected by the GW detector network consisting of two LIGO detectors and two third-generation GW detectors (the Einstein Telescope and the Cosmic Explorer). The redshift information of these events is obtained by identifying their possible host galaxies in the GLADE+ galaxy catalog. We show that the precession in the binary system can improve significantly the precision of luminosity distance and thus lead to a tighter constraint on the modified friction. By assuming narrow priors on cosmological parameters that are consistent with the uncertainties of Planck 2018 results, our analysis shows that the modified friction effect, characterized by two parameters \((\Xi_0, n)\), can be constrained to be \(\Xi_0 = 1.002^{+0.004}_{-0.004}\) and \(n=3.257^{+2.595}_{-2.192}\), in which the result of \(\Xi_0\) is about two orders of magnitude better than current result from an analysis with GWTC-3. Our result sets the stage for future research with third-generation GW detectors, offering new insights into gravitational parameter modifications. It also contributes to the understanding of the properties and applications of binary black hole systems with precession.