Probing Massive Fields with Multi-Band Gravitational-Wave Observations

TL;DR

This paper explores how multiband gravitational-wave observations can detect and characterize massive fields and test gravity theories, significantly surpassing single-band capabilities in probing field mass and spin.

Contribution

It demonstrates that multiband gravitational-wave observations can probe massive fields in a new mass range and distinguish their spin, improving constraints over existing methods.

Findings

Multiband observations probe fields with mass $10^{-16}$ to $10^{-15}$ eV.

Multiband improves constraints by up to 3 orders of magnitude.

Multiband can discriminate the spin of the massive field.

Abstract

We investigate the prospect of probing massive fields and testing gravitational theories with multiband observations of gravitational waves emitted from coalescing compact binaries. Focusing on the dipole radiation induced by a massive field, we show that multiband observations can probe the field with mass ranging from $10^{-16} $ to $10^{-15} {\rm eV}$, a parameter space that cannot be probed by the millihertz band observations alone. Multiband observations can also improve the constraints obtained with the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA binaries by at most 3 orders of magnitude in the mass range. Moreover, we show that multiband observations can discriminate the spin of the field, which cannot be identified with single-band observations.