Detection prospects of solar $g$-modes with LISA

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the potential for detecting solar g-modes with space-based gravitational-wave detectors like LISA, using updated solar models and sensitivities, and finds that detection prospects are minimally affected by solar metallicity uncertainties.

Contribution

The study provides a comprehensive analysis of solar g-mode detectability with current and future space-based interferometers, incorporating modern solar models and updated detector sensitivities.

Findings

Solar g-mode responses are similar across different solar models.

Uncertainties in solar metallicity have negligible impact on detectability.

LISA and TianQin have comparable sensitivities for solar g-mode detection.

Abstract

The possibility of detecting solar oscillation modes using space-based gravitational-wave detectors has been investigated in the context of gravitational-wave interferometry, with Polnarev \cite{Polnarev:2009xf} demonstrating that low-frequency solar modes could, in principle, produce detectable signals in a LISA-type interferometer. Motivated by this work, I revisit the problem using current solar models, updated detector sensitivities, and improved theoretical and observational constraints on mode amplitudes. In this study, I compute the gravitational response of solar oscillation modes using standard solar models generated with \texttt{MESA}, and mode eigenfrequencies and eigenfunctions calculated with \texttt{GYRE}. I focus primarily on solar $g$ modes, evaluating their responses for degree $l=2$ and azimuthal orders $m=0$ and $m=2$. The analysis incorporates both the earlier proposed and the current updated LISA sensitivity curves, and I perform a comparative assessment with the TianQin mission in the relevant low-frequency band. To assess the robustness of the predicted signals, I estimate the gravitational responses using two different standard solar models based on the GS98 and AGSS09 abundance compilations. I find that the resulting signal responses are nearly identical for the two models, indicating that uncertainties in solar metallicity have a negligible impact on the detectability of solar $g$ modes by space-based interferometers.