Electronic Detection of Gravitational Disturbances and Collective Coulomb Interactions

TL;DR

This paper explores how electronic processes and Coulomb interactions in metallic crystals influence the absorption of gravitational waves, linking microscopic electronic behavior to macroscopic gravitational detection capabilities.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed microscopic framework incorporating Coulomb interactions and non-adiabatic electronic transitions to analyze graviton absorption in metallic crystals.

Findings

Electronic viscosity dominates crystal response to gravitational waves.

Coulomb interactions significantly affect graviton absorption rates.

Non-adiabatic electronic transitions are crucial for accurate modeling.

Abstract

The cross section for a gravitational wave antenna to absorb a graviton may be directly expressed in terms of the non-local viscous response function of the metallic crystal. Crystal viscosity is dominated by electronic processes which then also dominate the graviton absorption rate. To compute this rate from a microscopic Hamiltonian, one must include the full Coulomb interaction in the Maxwell electric field pressure and also allow for strongly non-adiabatic transitions in the electronic kinetic pressure. The view that the electrons and phonons constitute ideal gases with a weak electron phonon interaction is not sufficiently accurate for estimating the full strength of the electronic interaction with a gravitational wave.