Polarization modes of gravitational waves in quadratic gravity

Pratik Wagle, Alexander Saffer, Nicolás Yunes

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The observation of the inspiral and merger of compact binaries by the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration has allowed for new tests of Einstein's theory in the extreme gravity regime, where gravitational interactions are simultaneously strong, nonlinear, and dynamical. Theories beyond Einstein's can also be constrained by detecting the polarization modes of gravitational waves. In this paper, we show that dynamical Chern-Simons and Einstein-dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet gravity cannot be differentiated from general relativity based on the detection of polarization modes alone. To prove this result, we use the Newman-Penrose method and an irreducible decomposition method to find that only the tensorial modes can be detected in both these theories.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number124007
JournalPhysical Review D
Volume100
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2 2019

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics

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