Gravitational wave polarization from combined Earth-space detectors

TL;DR

This paper explores how future Earth and space-based gravitational wave detectors can detect and distinguish different polarization modes of gravitational waves, enhancing our understanding of gravity.

Contribution

It introduces a method to analyze the sensitivity of combined Earth-space detectors to various gravitational wave polarization modes.

Findings

Enhanced sensitivity with combined detectors

Potential to distinguish polarization modes

Improved sky localization of sources

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the sensitivity to additional gravitational wave polarization modes of future detectors. We first look at the upcoming Einstein Telescope and its combination with existing or planned Earth-based detectors in the case of a stochastic gravitational wave background. We then study its correlation with a possible future space-borne detector sensitive to high-frequencies, like DECIGO. Finally, we adapt those results for a single GW source and establish the sensitivity of the modes, as well as the localization on the sky.