Detecting fundamental fields with LISA observations of gravitational waves from extreme mass-ratio inspirals

Abstract

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna1, LISA, will detect gravitational wave signals from extreme mass-ratio inspirals2, where a stellar mass compact object orbits a supermassive black hole and eventually plunges into it. Here we report on LISA’s capability to detect whether the smaller compact object in an extreme mass-ratio inspiral is endowed with a scalar field3,4, and to measure its scalar charge—a dimensionless quantity that acts as a measure of how much scalar field the object carries. By direct comparison of signals, we show that LISA will be able to detect and measure the scalar charge with an accuracy of the order of per cent, which is an unprecedented level of precision. This result is independent of the origin of the scalar field and of the structure and other properties of the small compact object, so it can be seen as a generic assessment of LISA’s capabilities to detect new fundamental fields. The presence of a scalar charge around a small compact object during its final inspiral into a supermassive black hole could be detected by LISA, providing a way to test deviations from general relativity and the existence of new fields in nature.