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The production of black holes with masses between ∼50⁢𝑀⊙−130⁢𝑀⊙ is believed to be prohibited by stellar processes due to (pulsational) pair-instability supernovae. Hierarchical mergers of black holes in dense star clusters are proposed as a mechanism to explain the observations of binary black holes with component masses in this range by LIGO/Virgo. We study the efficiency with which hierarchical mergers can produce higher and higher masses using a simple model of the forward evolution of binary black hole populations in gravitationally bound systems like stellar clusters. The model relies on pairing probability and initial mass functions for the black hole population, along with numerical relativity fitting formulas for the mass, spin, and kick speed of the merger remnant. We carry out an extensive comparison of the predictions of our model with clusterBHBdynamics (cBHBD) model, a fast method for the evolution of star clusters and black holes therein. For this comparison, we consider three different pairing functions of black holes and consider simulations from high- and low-metallicity cluster environments from cBHBD. We find good agreements between our model and the cBHBD results when the pairing probability of binaries depends on both total mass and mass ratio. We also assess the efficiency of hierarchical mergers as a function of merger generation and derive the mass distribution of black holes using our model. We find that the multimodal features in the observed binary black hole mass spectrum—revealed by the nonparametric population models—can be interpreted by invoking the hierarchical merger scenario in dense, metal-rich, stellar environments. Further, the two subdominant peaks in the GWTC-3 component mass spectrum are consistent with second and third-generation mergers in metal-rich, dense environments. With more binary black hole detections, our model could be used to infer the black hole initial mass function and pairing probability exponents. 

General relativity (GR) has proven to be a highly successful theory of gravity since its inception. The theory has thrivingly passed numerous experimental tests, predominantly in weak gravity, low relative speeds, and linear regimes, but also in the strong-field and very low-speed regimes with binary pulsars. Observable gravitational waves (GWs) originate from regions of spacetime where gravity is extremely strong, making them a unique tool for testing GR, in previously inaccessible regions of large curvature, relativistic speeds, and strong gravity. Since their first detection, GWs have been extensively used to test GR, but no deviations have been found so far. Given GR’s tremendous success in explaining current astronomical observations and laboratory experiments, accepting any deviation from it requires a very high level of statistical confidence and consistency of the deviation across GW sources. In this paper, we compile a comprehensive list of potential causes that can lead to a false identification of a GR violation in standard tests of GR on data from current and future ground-based GW detectors. These causes include detector noise, signal overlaps, gaps in the data, detector calibration, source model inaccuracy, missing physics in the source and in the underlying environment model, source misidentification, and mismodeling of the astrophysical population. We also provide a rough estimate of when each of these causes will become important for tests of GR for different detector sensitivities. We argue that each of these causes should be thoroughly investigated, quantified, and ruled out before claiming a GR violation in GW observations.