Testing alternative theories of gravity using LISA

DOI10.1088/0264-9381/21/18/006MaRDI QIDQ3160368zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Clifford M. Will, Nicolás Yunes

Publication date 9 February 2005

Published in Classical and Quantum Gravity (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0403100

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Observational and experimental questions in relativity and gravitational theory (83B05) Relativistic gravitational theories other than Einstein's, including asymmetric field theories (83D05)

Abstract: We investigate the possible bounds which could be placed on alternative theories of gravity using gravitational wave detection from inspiralling compact binaries with the proposed LISA space interferometer. Specifically, we estimate lower bounds on the coupling parameter omega of scalar-tensor theories of the Brans-Dicke type and on the Compton wavelength of the graviton lambda_g in hypothetical massive graviton theories. In these theories, modifications of the gravitational radiation damping formulae or of the propagation of the waves translate into a change in the phase evolution of the observed gravitational waveform. We obtain the bounds through the technique of matched filtering, employing the LISA Sensitivity Curve Generator (SCG), available online. For a neutron star inspiralling into a 10^3 M_sun black hole in the Virgo Cluster, in a two-year integration, we find a lower bound omega > 3 * 10^5. For lower-mass black holes, the bound could be as large as 2 * 10^6. The bound is independent of LISA arm length, but is inversely proportional to the LISA position noise error. Lower bounds on the graviton Compton wavelength ranging from 10^15 km to 5 * 10^16 km can be obtained from one-year observations of massive binary black hole inspirals at cosmological distances (3 Gpc), for masses ranging from 10^4 to 10^7 M_sun. For the highest-mass systems (10^7 M_sun), the bound is proportional to (LISA arm length)^{1/2} and to (LISA acceleration noise)^{-1/2}. For the others, the bound is independent of these parameters because of the dominance of white-dwarf confusion noise in the relevant part of the frequency spectrum. These bounds improve and extend earlier work which used analytic formulae for the noise curves.

Cited in

(13)

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• Gravity-wave detectors as probes of extra dimensions
• New post-Newtonian parameter to test Chern-Simons gravity
• Stiff matter solution in Brans-Dicke theory and the general relativity limit
• Constraint on Brans-Dicke theory from intermediate/extreme mass ratio inspirals
• The confrontation between general relativity and experiment
• The confrontation between general relativity and experiment
• Violation of the equivalence principle in curvature-based extended gravity at finite temperature
• Absorption cross section in gravity’s rainbow from confluent Heun equation
• Anisotropic compact stars in quadratic f(R) gravity and influence of quadratic parameter on properties of compact stars
• Einstein-Klein-Gordon system via Cauchy-characteristic evolution: computation of memory and ringdown tail
• Gravitational-wave tests of general relativity with ground-based detectors and pulsar-timing arrays
• The role of frame force in quantum detection

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