Gravitational-wave signatures of gravito-electromagnetic couplings

TL;DR

This paper explores how non-minimal curvature-electromagnetic couplings during inflation can produce unique gravitational wave signatures, potentially detectable by future GW observatories, offering new insights into early Universe physics.

Contribution

It derives the first modified tensor modes equation of motion for a gravity theory with curvature-electromagnetic coupling and identifies a universal IR frequency scaling of the induced GW signal.

Findings

The GW signal exhibits a universal $f^5$ IR frequency scaling.

The electromagnetic-induced GW signals could be detectable by future GW experiments.

The study connects early Universe electromagnetic effects with observable GW signatures.

Abstract

Gravitational waves (GWs) can undoubtedly serve as a messenger from the early Universe acting as well as a novel probe of the underlying gravity theory. In this work, motivated by one-loop vacuum-polarization effects on curved spacetime, we investigate a gravitational theory with non-minimal curvature-electromagnetic coupling terms of the form $\xi R F_{\mu\nu}F^{\mu\nu}$, where $R$ is the scalar curvature and $F_{\mu\nu}$ the Faraday tensor, which can be responsible for the generation of primordial electromagnetic fields. We study then the GW signatures of such coupling terms deriving in particular for the first time to the best of our knowledge the modified tensor modes equation of motion. Remarkably, we find a universal infrared (IR) frequency scaling $f^5$ of the electromagnetically induced GW (EMIGW) signal, which, depending on the energy scale of inflation, the duration of inflation and reheating as well as the dynamical behaviour of the gauge coupling function $\xi$, can be well within the detection sensitivity bands of GW experiments such as SKA, LISA, ET and BBO, being thus potentially detectable in the future by GW observatories.