Observational Constraints on the Regularized 4D Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet Theory of Gravity

In this paper we study the observational constraints that can be imposed on the coupling parameter, $\hat \alpha$, of the recently proposed 4-dimensional Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory of gravity. We consider the field equations that can be derived from regularization or dimensional reduction, and use them to perform a thorough investigation of the slow-motion and weak-field limit of this theory. We apply our results to observations of a wide array of physical systems that admit such a description, and find that the LAGEOS satellites are the most constraining, requiring $| \hat \alpha | \lesssim 10^{10} \,{\rm m}^2$. We then consider constraints that can be imposed on this theory from cosmology, black hole systems, and table-top experiments. It is found that early universe inflation prohibits all but the smallest negative values of $\hat \alpha$, while observations of binary black hole systems are likely to offer the tightest constraints on positive values, leading to overall bounds $0 \lesssim \hat \alpha \lesssim 10^8 \, {\rm m}^2$.