Relativistic binary systems in scale-independent energy-momentum squared gravity

TL;DR

This paper investigates gravitational waves from relativistic binary systems within a modified gravity theory, deriving new predictions for GW signals and constraining the theory's parameters using observational data.

Contribution

It provides the first derivation of GW signals in scale-independent energy-momentum squared gravity and tests the theory against recent GW observations.

Findings

Non-GR corrections modify GW amplitude but not polarization.

The theory's free parameter is constrained to about 10^{-5} by GW data.

Modified gravity affects the secular variation of binary orbital parameters.

Abstract

In this paper, we study the gravitational-wave (GW) radiation and radiative behavior of relativistic binary systems in the scale-independent energy-momentum squared gravity (EMSG). Using the post-Minkowskian gravity based on the Landau-Lifshitz formulation of the theory, the field equations of the scale-independent EMSG are solved approximately. The gravitational potential in the wave zone of a gravitational source is then obtained. Doing so, we derive the GW signals emitted from a binary system. The results are different from those obtained in general relativity (GR). It is shown that the relevant non-GR corrections modify the wave amplitude and leave the GW polarizations unchanged. In this case, the system loses energy to modified GWs. This leads to a change in the secular variation of the Keplerian parameters of the binary system. In this work, we investigate the non-GR effects on the radiative parameter, i.e., the first time derivative of the orbital period. Next, applying these results together with GW observations from the relativistic binary systems, we constrain/test the scale-independent EMSG theory in the strong-field regime. After assuming that GR is the valid gravity theory, as a priori expectation, we find that the free parameter of the theory is of the order $10^{-5}$ from the direct GW observation, the GW events GW190425 and GW170817, as well as the indirect GW observation, the double pulsar PSR J0737$-$3039A/B experiment.