For instance, even a day’s delay in the arrival times of gravitational and electromagnetic radiation
from a source at a distance of one giga light year (distance to a low-redshift GRB detectable
by advanced detectors) would determine the relative speeds to better than one part in 1011
(1 day/109 yr 3 × 10–12). Coincident detection of GRBs and gravitational waves would require good
timing accuracy to determine the direction of the source so that astronomical observations of
associated gamma rays (and afterglows in other spectral bands) can be made. Consequently,
gravitational wave antennas around the globe will have to make a coincident detection of the
event.
If the speed of gravitational waves is less than that of light, then this could indicate that the graviton has an effective nonzero mass.
This would have other observable effects, in particular dispersion; different frequencies should move at different speeds. Will [393] pointed out that LISA’s observations of coalescences of SMBHs at high redshifts will place extremely tight constraints on dispersion, and may, therefore, indirectly set the best available limits on the speed of gravitational waves. This and other bounds on the graviton mass are discussed in Section 6.6.1.
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