Gravitational-Wave Dispersion as a Probe of Finite Accessibility

Arc VI — Experiment Paper 2 Title Gravitational-Wave Dispersion as a Probe of Finite Accessibility Zenodo DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18226034 Description This paper proposes a concrete, falsifiable experimental test of finite-accessibility gravity using gravitational-wave propagation. Unlike classical general relativity, which predicts dispersionless propagation of gravitational waves in vacuum, the finite-accessibility framework allows for frequency-dependent signal degradation arising from bounded record-transport capacity. The analysis treats gravitational waves as carriers of temporal and phase records propagating through an accessibility-modulated vacuum. Finite bandwidth and state-change constraints introduce a small but cumulative dispersion effect, leading to frequency-dependent group velocities and arrival-time offsets over astrophysical distances. A phenomenological dispersion relation is derived directly from accessibility principles, independent of specific microscopic models. The resulting deviations from general relativity are shown to be tightly constrained—but not eliminated—by existing LIGO/Virgo observations. Current data are used to place lower bounds on the vacuum accessibility cutoff scale, while future detectors are shown to have sensitivity sufficient to probe previously inaccessible regimes. This work establishes gravitational-wave astronomy as a precision probe of operational spacetime structure, transforming null propagation from a background assumption into an experimentally testable principle. Keywords gravitational waves; dispersion; tests of general relativity; interferometry; finite accessibility; experimental gravity Notes Arc VI — Experiment (falsifiable probe) Predicts frequency-dependent GW propagation absent in GR Directly testable with existing and next-generation detectors Constrains accessibility cutoff scales from observational data First predictive deviation from metric gravity in the program