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Register a new userOn constraining the speed of gravitational waves following GW150914
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We point out that the observed time delay between the detection of the signal at the Hanford and Livingston LIGO sites from the gravitational wave event GW150914 places an upper bound on the speed of propagation of gravitational waves, $c_{gw}lesssim 1.7$ in the units of speed of light. Combined with the lower bound from the absence of gravitational Cherenkov losses by cosmic rays that rules out most of subluminal velocities, this gives a model-independent double-sided constraint $1lesssim c_{gw}lesssim 1.7$. We compare this result to model-specific constraints from pulsar timing and cosmology.
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The direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs) is an invaluable new tool to probe gravity and the nature of cosmic acceleration. A large class of scalar-tensor theories predict that GWs propagate with velocity different than the speed of light, a difference that can be $mathcal{O}(1)$ for many models of dark energy. We determine the conditions behind the anomalous GW speed, namely that the scalar field spontaneously breaks Lorentz invariance and couples to the metric perturbations via the Weyl tensor. If these conditions are realized in nature, the delay between GW and electromagnetic (EM) signals from distant events will run beyond human timescales, making it impossible to measure the speed of GWs using neutron star mergers or other violent events. We present a robust strategy to exclude or confirm an anomalous speed of GWs using eclipsing binary systems, whose EM phase can be exquisitely determined. he white dwarf binary J0651+2844 is a known example of such system that can be used to probe deviations in the GW speed as small as $c_g/c-1gtrsim 2cdot 10^{-12}$ when LISA comes online. This test will either eliminate many contender models for cosmic acceleration or wreck a fundamental pillar of general relativity.
String length is a fundamental parameter in string theory. A strategy on how to determine it through experiments is proposed. Our work focuses on the stochastic gravitational waves from string gas cosmology. With the help of the Lambert W function, we find the non-Hagedorn phase is ruled out by the B-mode polarization in the cosmic microwave background. The spectrum from the Hagedorn phase with a logarithmic term is found to be unique. We propose a strategy on how to constrain the string length through stochastic gravitational waves. Considering the sensitivities of the current and the upcoming detectors, the string length is found to be lower than 7 $sim$ orders of the Planck scale.
In testing gravity a model-independent way, one of crucial tests is measuring the propagation speed of a gravitational wave (GW). In general relativity, a GW propagates with the speed of light, while in the alternative theories of gravity the propagation speed could deviate from the speed of light due to the modification of gravity or spacetime structure at a quantum level. Previously we proposed the method measuring the GW speed by directly comparing the arrival times between a GW and a photon from the binary merger of neutron stars or neutron star and black hole, assuming that it is associated with a short gamma-ray burst. The sensitivity is limited by the intrinsic time delay between a GW and a photon at the source. In this paper, we extend the method to distinguish the intrinsic time delay from the true signal caused by anomalous GW speed with multiple events at cosmological distances, also considering the redshift distribution of GW sources, redshift-dependent GW propagation speed, and the statistics of intrinsic time delays. We show that an advanced GW detector such as Einstein Telescope will constrain the GW propagation speed at the precision of ~10^{-16}. We also discuss the optimal statistic to measure the GW speed, performing numerical simulations.
Gravitational waves perturb the paths of photons, impacting both the time-of-flight and the arrival direction of light from stars. Pulsar timing arrays can detect gravitational waves by measuring the variations in the time of flight of radio pulses, while astrometry missions such as Gaia can detect gravitational waves from the time-varying changes in the apparent position of a field of stars. Just as gravitational waves impart a characteristic correlation pattern in the arrival times of pulses from pulsars at different sky locations, the deflection of starlight is similarly correlated across the sky. Here we compute the astrometric correlation patterns for the full range of polarization states found in alternative theories of gravity, and decompose the sky-averaged correlation patterns into vector spherical harmonics. We find that the tensor and vector polarization states produce equal power in the electric- and magnetic-type vector spherical harmonics, while the scalar modes produce only electric-type correlations. Any difference in the measured electric and magnetic-type correlations would represent a clear violation of Einstein gravity. The angular correlations functions for the vector and scalar longitudinal modes show the same enhanced response at small angular separations that is familiar from pulsar timing.
In the current work we investigate the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the field of gravitational waves. Starting with simple case of an electromagnetic wave travelling in the field of a plane monochromatic gravitational wave we introduce the concept of surfing effect and analyze its physical consequences. We then generalize these results to an arbitrary gravitational wave field. We show that, due to the transverse nature of gravitational waves, the surfing effect leads to significant observable consequences only if the velocity of gravitational waves deviates from speed of light. This fact can help to place an upper limit on the deviation of gravitational wave velocity from speed of light. The micro-arcsecond resolution promised by the upcoming precision interferometry experiments allow to place stringent upper limits on $epsilon = (v_{gw}-c)/c$ as a function of the energy density parameter for gravitational waves $Omega_{gw}$. For $Omega_{gw} approx 10^{-10}$ this limit amounts to $epsilonlesssim 2cdot 10^{-2}$.
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