Detecting electric charge with Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals

TL;DR

This paper investigates how space-based gravitational wave detectors can identify electric charges of compact objects in extreme mass ratio inspirals by analyzing gravitational and electromagnetic wave emissions.

Contribution

It introduces a method to detect electric charge in compact objects using gravitational wave data from EMRIs, employing advanced perturbation formalisms.

Findings

Detection of charge to mass ratio as small as 10^{-3} with one year of observation.

Electromagnetic and gravitational wave flux calculations enable charge measurement.

Potential to distinguish charged from neutral compact objects in gravitational wave signals.

Abstract

We consider extreme mass ratio inspirals during which an electrically charged compact object with mass $m_p$ and the charge to mass ratio $q$ inspirals around a Schwarzschild black hole of mass $M$. Using the Teukolsky and generalized Sasaki-Nakamura formalisms for the gravitational and electromagnetic perturbations around a Schwarzschild black hole, we numerically calculate the energy flux of both gravitational and electromagnetic waves induced by a charged particle moving in circular orbits. With one year observation of these extreme mass ratio inspirals, we show that space-based gravitational wave detector such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna can detect the charge to mass ratio as small as $q\sim 10^{-3}$.