Classification of Gravitational Waves in Higher-dimensional Space-time and Possibility of Observation

TL;DR

This paper explores how gravitational wave polarizations in higher-dimensional space-time could be classified and detected, providing a potential method to test for the existence of extra dimensions beyond our familiar 3D space.

Contribution

It introduces a classification scheme for gravitational wave polarizations in higher-dimensional theories and discusses how detector responses could reveal extra dimensions.

Findings

Differences in detector responses can indicate extra dimensions.

Polarization patterns vary with higher-dimensional theories.

Potential observational signatures for extra dimensions are identified.

Abstract

The direct detection of gravitational waves opens the possibility to test general relativity and its alternatives in the strong field regime. Here we focus on the test of the existence of extra dimensions. The classification of gravitational waves in metric gravity theories according to their polarizations in higher-dimensional space-time and the possible observation of these polarizations in 3-dimensional subspace are discussed in this work. And we show that the difference in the response of gravitational waves in detectors with and without extra dimensions can serve as evidence for the existence of extra dimensions.