Propagation Of Gravitational Waves Research Articles

The Multi-parameter Test of Gravitational Wave Dispersion with Principal Component Analysis

In this work, we consider a conventional test of gravitational wave (GW) propagation which is based on the phenomenological parameterized dispersion relation to describe potential departures from General Relativity (GR) along the propagation of GWs. But different from tests conventionally performed previously, we vary multiple deformation coefficients simultaneously and employ the principal component analysis (PCA) method to remedy the strong degeneracy among deformation coefficients and obtain informative posteriors. The dominant PCA components can be better measured and constrained, and thus are expected to be more sensitive to potential departures from the waveform model. Using this method we analyze ten selected events and get the result that the combined posteriors of the dominant PCA parameters are consistent with GR within 99.7% credible intervals. The standard deviation of the first dominant PCA parameter is three times smaller than that of the original dispersion parameter of the leading order. However, the multi-parameter test with PCA is more sensitive to not only potential deviations from GR but also systematic errors of waveform models. The difference in results obtained by using different waveform templates hints that the demands of waveform accuracy are higher to perform the multi-parameter test with PCA. Whereas, it cannot be strictly proven that the deviation is indeed and only induced by systematic errors. It requires more thorough research in the future to exclude other possible reasons in parameter estimation and data processing.

How well can modified gravitational wave propagation be constrained with strong lensing?

How well can modified gravitational wave propagation be constrained with strong lensing?

Future Perspectives for Gamma-ray Burst Detection from Space

Since their first discovery in the late 1960s, gamma-ray bursts have attracted an exponentially growing interest from the international community due to their central role in the most highly debated open questions of the modern research of astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, and fundamental physics. These range from the intimate nuclear composition of high-density material within the core of ultra-dense neuron stars, to stellar evolution via the collapse of massive stars, the production and propagation of gravitational waves, as well as the exploration of the early universe by unveiling the first stars and galaxies (assessing also their evolution and cosmic re-ionization). GRBs in the past ∼50 years have stimulated the development of cutting-edge technological instruments for observations of high-energy celestial sources from space, leading to the launch and successful operations of many different scientific missions (several of them still in data-taking mode currently). In this review, we provide a brief description of the GRB-dedicated missions from space being designed and developed for the future. The list of these projects, not meant to be exhaustive, shall serve as a reference to interested readers to understand what is likely to come next to lead the further development of GRB research and the associated phenomenology.

GRINN: a physics-informed neural network for solving hydrodynamic systems in the presence of self-gravity

Modeling self-gravitating gas flows is essential to answering many fundamental questions in astrophysics. This spans many topics including planet-forming disks, star-forming clouds, galaxy formation, and the development of large-scale structures in the Universe. However, the nonlinear interaction between gravity and fluid dynamics offers a formidable challenge to solving the resulting time-dependent partial differential equations (PDEs) in three dimensions (3D). By leveraging the universal approximation capabilities of a neural network within a mesh-free framework, physics informed neural networks (PINNs) offer a new way of addressing this challenge. We introduce the gravity-informed neural network (GRINN), a PINN-based code, to simulate 3D self-gravitating hydrodynamic systems. Here, we specifically study gravitational instability and wave propagation in an isothermal gas. Our results match a linear analytic solution to within 1% in the linear regime and a conventional grid code solution to within 5% as the disturbance grows into the nonlinear regime. We find that the computation time of the GRINN does not scale with the number of dimensions. This is in contrast to the scaling of the grid-based code for the hydrodynamic and self-gravity calculations as the number of dimensions is increased. Our results show that the GRINN computation time is longer than the grid code in one- and two- dimensional calculations but is an order of magnitude lesser than the grid code in 3D with similar accuracy. Physics-informed neural networks like GRINN thus show promise for advancing our ability to model 3D astrophysical flows.

Primordial Black Holes in Scalar Field Inflation Coupled to the Gauss–Bonnet Term with Fractional Power-law Potentials

In this study, we investigate the formation of primordial black holes (PBHs) in a scalar field inflationary model coupled to the Gauss–Bonnet term with fractional power-law potentials. The coupling function enhances the curvature perturbations, then results in the generation of PBHs and detectable secondary gravitational waves (GWs). We identify three separate sets of parameters for the potential functions of the form ϕ 1/3, ϕ 2/5, and ϕ 2/3. By adjusting the model parameters, we decelerate the inflaton during the ultra-slow-roll phase and enhance curvature perturbations. Our calculations predict the formation of PBHs with masses of O(10)M⊙ , which are compatible with LIGO-Virgo observational data. Additionally, we find PBHs with masses around O(10−6)M⊙ and O(10−5)M⊙ , which can explain ultra-short-timescale microlensing events in OGLE data. Furthermore, our proposed mechanism could lead to the formation of PBHs in mass scales around O(10−14)M⊙ and O(10−13)M⊙ , contributing to approximately 99% of the dark matter in the Universe. We also study the production of secondary GWs in our model. In all cases of the model, the density parameter of secondary GWs ΩGW0 exhibits peaks that intersect the sensitivity curves of GW detectors, providing a means to verify our findings using data of these detectors. Our numerical results demonstrate a power-law behavior for the spectra of ΩGW0 with respect to frequency, given by ΩGW0(f)∼(f/fc)n . Additionally, in the infrared regime where f ≪ f c , the power index takes a log-dependent form, specifically n=3−2/ln(fc/f) .

Spontaneous baryogenesis and generation of gravitational waves in a new model of quintessential [formula omitted]-attractor

We study the role of α-parameter of the newly proposed model of quintessential α-attractor inflation (arXiv: 2305.00230 [gr-qc]) to the case of quintessential spontaneous baryogenesis and generation of relic gravitational waves in presence of a rolling scalar field during kination. An effective 4-Fermi construct technique has been employed to compute the freeze-out temperature and the baryon-to-entropy ratio, of which the obtained results conform to the experimental requirements for 0.28≤α≤0.30. This range of α is found to originate from the functional behavior of the end-value expression of the potential concerned. We also find a blue-tilted gravitational wave spectrum during a transition from inflation to kination. The amplitudes of the gravitational waves during radiation domination satisfy the constraint for nucleosynthesis and the characteristic strain of the ongoing gravitational wave detectors. Thus, the most important observation emerged from the present study is that, increasingly small fractional values of α are favorable for unification of inflation, baryogenesis, quintessence and gravitational waves within a single model. This could have an interesting connection with the fundamental origin of α-attractor.

Probing modified gravitational-wave propagation with extreme mass-ratio inspirals

Probing modified gravitational-wave propagation with extreme mass-ratio inspirals

Wormhole effective mass and gravitational waves by binary systems containing wormhole

We considered the generation of gravitational waves by the binary system associated with a wormhole. In the Newtonian limit, the gravitational potential of a wormhole requires the effective mass of the wormhole taking into account radial tension effects. This definition allows us to derive gravitational wave production in homogeneous and heterogeneous binary systems. Therefore, we studied gravitational waves generation by orbiting wormhole–wormhole and wormhole–black hole binary systems before coalescence. Cases involving negative mass require more careful handling. We also calculated the energy loss to gravitational radiation by a particle orbiting around the wormhole and by a particle moving straight through the wormhole mouth, respectively.

Testing the nature of gravitational wave propagation using dark sirens and galaxy catalogues

The dark sirens method enables us to use gravitational wave events without electromagnetic counterparts as tools for cosmology and tests of gravity. Furthermore, the dark sirens analysis code gwcosmo can now robustly account for information coming from both galaxy catalogues and the compact object mass distribution. We present here an extension of the gwcosmo code and methodology to constrain parameterized deviations from General Relativity that affect the propagation of gravitational waves under the ΛCDM expansion history of the universe. We show results of our analysis using data from the GWTC-3 gravitational wave catalogues, in preparation for application to the O4 observing run. After testing our pipelines using the First Two Years mock data set, we reanalyse 46 events from GWTC-3, and combine the posterior for BBH and NSBH sampling results for the first time. We obtain joint constraints on H 0 and parameterized deviations from General Relativity in the Power Law + Peak BBH population model. With increased galaxy catalogue support in the future, our work sets the stage for dark sirens to become a powerful tool for testing gravity.

Spacetime symmetry breaking effects in gravitational-wave generation at the first post-Newtonian order

Spacetime symmetry breaking effects in gravitational-wave generation at the first post-Newtonian order

Classical radiation fields for scalar, electromagnetic, and gravitational waves with spacetime-symmetry breaking

An effective field theory framework is used to investigate some Lorentz-violating effects on the generation of electromagnetic and gravitational waves, complementing previous work on propagation. Specifically we find solutions to a modified, anisotropic wave equation, sourced by charge or fluid matter. We derive the radiation fields for scalars, classical electromagnetic radiation, and partial results for gravitational radiation. For gravitational waves, the results show longitudinal and breathing polarizations proportional to coefficients for spacetime-symmetry breaking.

Graviton to Photon Conversion in Curved Space-Time and External Magnetic Field

The suppression of relic gravitational waves due to their conversion into electromagnetic radiation in a cosmological magnetic field is studied. The coupled system of equations describing gravitational and electromagnetic wave propagation in an arbitrary curved space-time and in external magnetic field is derived. The subsequent elimination of photons from the beam due to their interaction with the primary plasma is taken into account. The resulting system of equations is solved numerically in the Friedman–LeMaitre–Robertson–Walker metric for the upper limit of the intergalactic magnetic field strength of 1 nGs. We conclude that the gravitational wave conversion into photons in the intergalactic magnetic field cannot significantly change the amplitude of the relic gravitational wave and their frequency spectrum.

Gravitational waves from the pulsar magnetosphere

ABSTRACT We investigate the generation of gravitational waves from the rotation of an orthogonal pulsar magnetosphere in flat space-time. We calculate the first-order metric perturbation due to the rotation of the non-axisymmetric distribution of electromagnetic energy density around the central star. We show that gravitational waves from a strong magnetic field pulsar right after its formation within a distance of 1 kpc may be detectable with the new generation of gravitational wave detectors.

THE TRAUTMAN PROBLEM OF INFORMATION TRANSFER, THE PROBLEM OF ENERGY TRANSFER BY GRAVITATIONAL WAVES AND THE STATUS OF THE POINCARE GAUGE THEORY OF GRAVITY

The transfer of information is one of the problems of the propagation of gravitational waves in connection with the prospect of the possible use of high-frequency gravitational waves for the creation of space communications. The requirements for information transfer are formulated in the form of the Trautman problem, which defines the conditions under which gravitational waves invariantly transfer the information contained in them. The second problem of the propagation of gravitational waves is the problem of energy-momentum transfer, which is not solved in general relativity, but can be solved in the punch of the gauge theory of gravity, for which the “criterion of strong localization of the energy-momentum of the gravitational field” is formulated. The features of two approaches in the Poincare gauge theory of gravity are discussed.

Constrain the time variation of the gravitational constant via the propagation of gravitational waves

The gravitational constant variation means the breakdown of the strong equivalence principle. As the cornerstone of general relativity, the validity of general relativity can be examined by studying the gravitational constant variation. Such variations have the potential to affect both the generation and propagation of gravitational waves. Here, our focus lies on the effect of gravitational constant variation specifically on the propagation of gravitational waves. In a previous paper (An et al., 2023 [13]) we have studied such effect based on a Maxwell-like equation. That work admits two drawbacks. The assumption that describing gravitational waves with Maxwell-like equation is not solid. And more such treatment can only deal with space dependent gravitational constant. In the current paper we will remedy these two issues. We employ two analytical methods, namely based on the Fierz-Pauli action and the perturbation of Einstein-Hilbert action around Minkowski spacetime, both leading to the same gravitational wave equation. By solving this equation, we find the effects of gravitational constant variation on gravitational wave propagation. The result is consistent with previous investigations based on Maxwell-like equations for gravitational waves for space dependent gravitational constant cases. In addition we can constrain the time variation of the gravitational constant via the propagation of gravitational waves based on GW170817 data. And more, we find that small variations in the gravitational constant result in an amplitude correction at the leading order and a phase correction at the sub-leading order for gravitational waves. These results provide valuable insights for probing gravitational constant variation and can be directly applied to gravitational wave data analysis.

Strong Backreaction Regime in Axion Inflation.

We study the nonlinear dynamics of axion inflation, capturing for the first time the inhomogeneity and full dynamical range during strong backreaction, till the end of inflation. Accounting for inhomogeneous effects leads to a number of new relevant results, compared to spatially homogeneous studies: (i)the number of extra efoldings beyond slow-roll inflation increases very rapidly with the coupling, (ii)oscillations of the inflaton velocity are attenuated, (iii)the tachyonic gauge field helicity spectrum is smoothed out (i.e., the spectral oscillatory features disappear), broadened, and shifted to smaller scales, and (iv)the nontachyonic helicity is excited, reducing the chiral asymmetry, now scale dependent. Our results are expected to impact strongly on the phenomenology and observability of axion inflation, including gravitational wave generation and primordial black hole production.

On the Propagation of Gravitational Waves in Matter-Filled Bianchi I Universe

On the Propagation of Gravitational Waves in Matter-Filled Bianchi I Universe

Gauge-invariant gravitational waves in matter beyond linearized gravity

Modeling the propagation of gravitational waves (GWs) in media other than vacuum is complicated by the gauge freedom of linearized gravity in that, once nonlinearities are taken into consideration, gauge artifacts can cause spurious acceleration of the matter. To eliminate these artifacts, we propose how to keep the theory of dispersive GWs gauge-invariant beyond the linear approximation and, in particular, obtain an unambiguous gauge-invariant expression for the energy–momentum of a GW in a dispersive medium. Using analytic tools from plasma physics, we propose an exactly gauge-invariant ‘quasilinear’ theory, in which GWs are governed by linear equations and also affect the background metric on scales large compared to their wavelength. As a corollary, the gauge-invariant geometrical optics of linear dispersive GWs in a general background is formulated. As an example, we show how the well-known properties of vacuum GWs are naturally and concisely yielded by our theory in a manifestly gauge-invariant form. We also show how the gauge invariance can be maintained within a given accuracy to an arbitrary order in the GW amplitude. These results are intended to form a physically meaningful framework for studying dispersive GWs in matter.

Scalar-induced gravitational wave interpretation of PTA data: the role of scalar fluctuation propagation speed

Pulsar timing arrays gathered evidence of the presence of a gravitational wave background around nHz frequencies. If the gravitational wave background was induced by large and Gaussian primordial fluctuations, they would then produce too many sub-solar mass primordial black holes. We show that if at the time of gravitational wave generation the universe was dominated by a canonical scalar field, with the same equation of state as standard radiation but a higher propagation speed of fluctuations, one can explain the gravitational wave background with a primordial black hole counterpart consistent with observations. Lastly, we discuss possible ways to test this model with future gravitational wave detectors.

Multi-field inflation with large scalar fluctuations: non-Gaussianity and perturbativity

Recently multi-field inflation models that can produce large scalar fluctuations on small scales have drawn a lot of attention, primarily because they could lead to primordial black hole production and generation of large second-order gravitational waves. In this work, we focus on models where the scalar fields responsible for inflation live on a hyperbolic field space. In this case, geometrical destabilisation and non-geodesic motion are responsible for the peak in the scalar power spectrum. We present new results for scalar non-Gaussianity and discuss its dependence on the model's parameters. On scales around the peak, we typically find that the non-Gaussianity is large and close to local in form. We validate our results by employing two different numerical techniques, utilising the transport approach, based on full cosmological perturbation theory, and the δN formalism, based on the separate universe approximation. We discuss implications of our results for the perturbativity of the underlying theory, focusing in particular on versions of these models with potentially relevant phenomenology at interferometer scales.