Study of eccentric binaries in Horndeski theory

TL;DR

This paper investigates how eccentric binary systems evolve in Horndeski gravity, comparing their orbital decay rates to those predicted by General Relativity to test the theory's implications.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed calculation of energy loss and orbital decay in eccentric binaries within Horndeski gravity, offering a basis for observational tests.

Findings

Decay rates of eccentricity and semi-major axis differ from GR predictions.

Horndeski gravity predicts distinct orbital evolution signatures.

Results enable potential observational constraints on Horndeski theory.

Abstract

We study the orbital evolution of eccentric binary systems in Horndeski gravity. This particular theory provides a testbed to give insightful comparisons with data. We compute the rate of energy loss and the rate of change of angular momentum for the binaries by calculating the multipole moments of the radiation fields. We have used appropriate parameters for the eccentric binaries to compute the decay rates of its orbital eccentricity and semi-major axis. We then compare this decay rate with that of GR.