A test of gravity with Pulsar Timing Arrays

DOI10.1088/1475-7516/2023/11/042MaRDI QIDQ6202593zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Qiuyue Liang, Meng-Xiang Lin, Mark Trodden

Publication date 26 February 2024

Published in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.02640

zbMATH Keywords

modified dispersion relationspulsar timing arraysstochastic gravitational wave background

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Gravitational waves (83C35) Quantization of the gravitational field (83C45) Relativistic gravitational theories other than Einstein's, including asymmetric field theories (83D05)

Abstract: A successful measurement of the Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background (SGWB) in Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs) would open up a new window through which to test the predictions of General Relativity (GR). We consider how these measurements might reveal deviations from GR by studying the overlap reduction function -- the quantity that in GR is approximated by the Hellings-Downs curve -- in some sample modifications of gravity, focusing on the generic prediction of a modified dispersion relation for gravitational waves. We find a distinct signature of such modifications to GR -- a shift in the minimum angle of the angular distribution -- and demonstrate that this shift is quantitatively sensitive to any change in the phase velocity. In a given modification of gravity, this result can be used, in some regions of parameter space, to distinguish the effect of a modified dispersion relation from that due to the presence of extra polarization modes.

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Cites work

• Gravitational wave propagation beyond general relativity: waveform distortions and echoes
• Scalar gravitational radiation from binaries: Vainshtein mechanism in time-dependent systems

Cited in

(7)

• Searching for bispectrum of stochastic gravitational waves with pulsar timing arrays
• The PTA Hellings and Downs correlation unmasked by symmetries
• Correlations for an anisotropic polarized stochastic gravitational wave background in pulsar timing arrays
• Answers to frequently asked questions about the pulsar timing array Hellings and Downs curve
• On the overlap reduction function of pulsar timing array searches for gravitational waves in modified gravity
• Testing gravity with realistic gravitational waveforms in pulsar timing arrays
• Imprints of gravitational-wave polarizations on projected tidal tensor in three dimensions

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