Gravitational waves effects in a Lorentz–violating scenario

Abstract

This paper focuses on how the production and polarization of gravitational waves are affected by spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking, which is driven by a self–interacting vector field. Specifically, we examine the impact of a smooth quadratic potential and a non–minimal coupling, discussing the constraints and causality features of the linearized Einstein equation. To analyze the polarization states of a plane wave, we consider a fixed vacuum expectation value (VEV) of the vector field. Remarkably, we verify that a space–like background vector field modifies the polarization plane and introduces a longitudinal degree of freedom. In order to investigate the Lorentz violation effect on the quadrupole formula, we use the modified Green function. Finally, we show that the space–like component of the background field leads to a third–order time derivative of the quadrupole moment, and the bounds for the Lorentz–breaking coefficients are estimated as well.