A test of gravity with Pulsar Timing Arrays
A successful measurement of the Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background (SGWB) in Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs) would open up a new window through which to test the predictions of General Relativity (GR). We consider how these measurements might reveal deviations from GR by studying the overlap reduction function — the quantity that in GR is approximated by the Hellings-Downs curve — in some sample modifications of gravity, focusing on the generic prediction of a modified dispersion relation for gravitational waves. We find a distinct signature of such modifications to GR — a shift in the minimum angle of the angular distribution — and demonstrate that this shift is quantitatively sensitive to any change in the phase velocity. In a given modification of gravity, this result can be used, in some regions of parameter space, to distinguish the effect of a modified dispersion relation from that due to the presence of extra polarization modes.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0013528
- OSTI ID:
- 2578759
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 2023; ISSN 1475-7516
- Publisher:
- Institute of Physics (IOP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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