Laser interferometer in presence of scalar field on gravitational wave background

Abstract

Detection of gravitational waves opened new windows on fundamental physics and it would be natural to search how the role of extra dimensional effects can be traced to gravitational wave physics. In this article, we consider a toy model of five dimensional pure gravity theory compactified on a circle. The resulting four dimensional theory is a scalar-Maxwell theory which is minimally coupled with gravity. By finding the equations of motion for scalar, electric and magnetic fields, we would be able to find exact wave solutions of coupled equations which are zero mode solutions. We also perform perturbation in order to consider non-zero modes of electromagnetic fields. Having these solutions at hand, we study the recombination of scalar-affected electromagnetic waves in a typical Michelson interferometer. In particular, we obtain, up to first order, the change of amplitude of electromagnetic power due to presence of this scalar field which may reveal some signals of extra dimension.