Gravitational wave polarizations with different propagation speeds

TL;DR

This paper introduces a model-independent method to extract and analyze multiple gravitational wave polarizations traveling at different speeds, aiding the search for new physics beyond general relativity.

Contribution

It develops a general approach to determine gravitational wave polarizations from metric perturbations, applicable to theories with varying propagation speeds, extending the parametrized post-Einsteinian formalism.

Findings

Method agrees with previous results when all speeds equal light speed

Demonstrates applicability to specific modified gravity theories

Discusses implications for null stream tests in gravitational wave detection

Abstract

In some modified theories of gravity, gravitational waves can contain up to six different polarizations, which can travel at speeds different from that of light. Searches for these different polarizations in gravitational wave data are important because any detection would be clear evidence of new physics, while clear non-detections could constrain some modified theories. The first step toward searching the data for such gravitational wave content is the calculation of the amplitudes of these different polarizations. Here we present a model-independent method to obtain the different polarizations of gravitational waves directly from the metric perturbation in theories where these polarizations are allowed to travel at different speeds. We develop our calculations so that the same procedure works with either the metric perturbation itself or its trace-reversed form. Our results are in agreement with previous work in the limit that all polarization speeds are the speed of light. We demonstrate how our model-independent method can be used with two specific modified theories of gravity, suggesting its wide applicability to other theories that allow for different gravitational wave propagation speeds. We further extend the parametrized post-Einsteinian formalism to apply to such theories that travel with different speeds. Finally, we discuss how the different speeds of different polarizations may affect null stream tests of general relativity with gravitational wave observations by multiple interferometers. Differences in propagation speeds may make null streams ineffective or lead to the detection of what seem to be isolated scalar or vector modes.