Boltzmann equations for astrophysical Stochastic Gravitational Wave Backgrounds scattering off of massive objects

TL;DR

This paper develops coupled Boltzmann equations to describe the intensity and polarisation of the stochastic gravitational wave background, accounting for scattering off massive objects, and analyzes their impact on anisotropies relevant for future observations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel set of Boltzmann equations for SGWB intensity and polarisation, including collision terms for gravitational Compton scattering, and provides analytical solutions in a simplified model.

Findings

Scattering causes negligible anisotropy changes at current GW frequencies.

Polarisation modes require high-order anisotropies to be generated from unpolarised radiation.

Analytical solutions quantify the impact of scattering on SGWB anisotropies.

Abstract

This work presents a set of coupled Boltzmann equations describing the intensity and polarisation Stokes parameters of the SGWB. Collision terms, which account for gravitational Compton scattering off of massive objects, are also included. This set resembles that for the CMB Stokes parameters, but the different spin nature of the gravitational radiation and the physics involved in the scattering process determine crucial differences. In this case, due to the Rutherford angular dependence of the cross section, all the SGWB intensity multipoles of order $\ell$ are scattered out, producing outgoing intensity anisotropies of any order $\ell$ if they are present in the incoming radiation. On the other hand, SGWB linear polarisation modes can be expanded in a basis of spherical harmonics with $m=\pm 4$ and $\ell\ge 4$. This means that SGWB polarisation modes can be generated from unpolarised anisotropic radiation only with $m=\pm 4$, therefore requiring at least a hexadecapole anisotropy ($\ell\ge 4$) in the incoming intensity. Assuming a simplified toy model, we solve analytically the set of coupled Boltzmann equations to get explicit expressions for the intensity and polarisation angular power spectra. We confirm the contribution of the gravitational Compton scattering to the SGWB anisoptropies is extremely small for collisions with compact objects in the frequency range of current and upcoming surveys. The system of coupled Boltzmann equations presented here provides a way to an accurate estimate of the total amount of anisotropies generated by multiple SGWB scattering processes off of massive objects, as well as the interplay between polarisation and intensity, during the GW propagation across the LSS of the universe. These results will be useful for the full treatment of the astrophysical SWGB anisotropies in view of upcoming gravitational waves observatories.