An effective formalism for testing extensions to General Relativity with gravitational waves

Endlich, Solomon; Gorbenko, Victor; Huang, Junwu; Senatore, Leonardo

doi:10.1007/JHEP09(2017)122

Title: An effective formalism for testing extensions to General Relativity with gravitational waves

Journal Article · 01 September 2017 · Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP09(2017)122 · OSTI ID:1468796

Endlich, Solomon ^[1]; Gorbenko, Victor ^[1]; Huang, Junwu ^[1]; Senatore, Leonardo ^[1]

Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Stanford Inst. for Theoretical Physics

The recent direct observation of gravitational waves (GW) from merging black holes opens up the possibility of exploring the theory of gravity in the strong regime at an unprecedented level. It is therefore interesting to explore which extensions to General Relativity (GR) could be detected. We construct an Effective Field Theory (EFT) satisfying the following requirements. It is testable with GW observations; it is consistent with other experiments, including short distance tests of GR; it agrees with widely accepted principles of physics, such as locality, causality and unitarity; and it does not involve new light degrees of freedom. The most general theory satisfying these requirements corresponds to adding to the GR Lagrangian operators constructed out of powers of the Riemann tensor, suppressed by a scale comparable to the curvature of the observed merging binaries. The presence of these operators modifies the gravitational potential between the compact objects, as well as their effective mass and current quadrupoles, ultimately correcting the waveform of the emitted GW.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0008078

OSTI ID:: 1468796

Journal Information:: Journal of High Energy Physics (Online), Vol. 2017, Issue 9; ISSN 1029-8479

Publisher:: Springer BerlinCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 60 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (33)

Causality, analyticity and an IR obstruction to UV completion Adams, Allan; Arkani-Hamed, Nima; Dubovsky, Sergei Journal of High Energy Physics, Vol. 2006, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1088/1126-6708/2006/10/014	journal	October 2006
Classical space–times from the S-matrix Neill, Duff; Rothstein, Ira Z. Nuclear Physics B, Vol. 877, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2013.09.007	journal	December 2013
Space-Based Tests of Gravity with Laser Ranging Turyshev, Slava G.; Williams, James G. International Journal of Modern Physics D, Vol. 16, Issue 12a https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218271807011838	journal	December 2007
Tests of the Gravitational Inverse-Square Law below the Dark-Energy Length Scale Kapner, D. J.; Cook, T. S.; Adelberger, E. G. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 98, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.021101	journal	January 2007
The black hole binary A0620-00 McClintock, J. E.; Remillard, R. A. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 308 https://doi.org/10.1086/164482	journal	September 1986
Normal forms for tensor polynomials. I. The Riemann tensor Fulling, S. A.; King, R. C.; Wybourne, B. G. Classical and Quantum Gravity, Vol. 9, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381/9/5/003	journal	May 1992
Torsion-balance tests of the weak equivalence principle Wagner, T. A.; Schlamminger, S.; Gundlach, J. H. Classical and Quantum Gravity, Vol. 29, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381/29/18/184002	journal	August 2012
Testing General Relativity with Atom Interferometry Dimopoulos, Savas; Graham, Peter W.; Hogan, Jason M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 98, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.111102	journal	March 2007
Attempt to explain black hole spin in X-ray binaries by new physics Bambi, Cosimo The European Physical Journal C, Vol. 75, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-014-3248-x	journal	January 2015
A note on causality constraining higher curvature corrections to gravity Gruzinov, A.; Kleban, M. Classical and Quantum Gravity, Vol. 24, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381/24/13/N02	journal	June 2007
Algebraic invariants of the Riemann tensor in a four‐dimensional Lorentzian space Carminati, J.; McLenaghan, R. G. Journal of Mathematical Physics, Vol. 32, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.529470	journal	November 1991
Evolution of Binary Black-Hole Spacetimes Pretorius, Frans Physical Review Letters, Vol. 95, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.121101	journal	September 2005
Testing the Bardeen metric with the black hole candidate in Cygnus X-1 Bambi, Cosimo Physics Letters B, Vol. 730 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2014.01.037	journal	March 2014
The Invar tensor package: Differential invariants of Riemann Martín-García, J. M.; Yllanes, D.; Portugal, R. Computer Physics Communications, Vol. 179, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2008.04.018	journal	October 2008
Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger Abbott, B. P.; Abbott, R.; Abbott, T. D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 116, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102	journal	February 2016
The effective field theorist’s approach to gravitational dynamics Porto, Rafael A. Physics Reports, Vol. 633 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physrep.2016.04.003	journal	May 2016
Causality constraints on corrections to the graviton three-point coupling Camanho, Xián O.; Edelstein, José D.; Maldacena, Juan Journal of High Energy Physics, Vol. 2016, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2016)020	journal	February 2016
Torsion balance experiments: A low-energy frontier of particle physics Adelberger, E. G.; Gundlach, J. H.; Heckel, B. R. Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics, Vol. 62, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppnp.2008.08.002	journal	January 2009
Tests of General Relativity with GW150914 Abbott, B. P.; Abbott, R.; Abbott, T. D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 116, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.221101	journal	May 2016
Post-Newtonian corrections to the motion of spinning bodies in nonrelativistic general relativity Porto, Rafael A. Physical Review D, Vol. 73, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.73.104031	journal	May 2006
Gravitational Waves: Volume 1: Theory and Experiments Maggiore, Michele https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198570745.001.0001	book	October 2007
A new test of general relativity - Gravitational radiation and the binary pulsar PSR 1913+16 Taylor, J. H.; Weisberg, J. M. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 253 https://doi.org/10.1086/159690	journal	February 1982
Orbital Parameters for the Black Hole Binary XTE J1650−500 Orosz, Jerome A.; McClintock, Jeffrey E.; Remillard, Ronald A. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 616, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/424892	journal	November 2004
Measuring Black Hole Spin Using X-Ray Reflection Spectroscopy Reynolds, Christopher S. Space Science Reviews, Vol. 183, Issue 1-4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-013-0006-6	journal	August 2013
Black Hole Spin via Continuum Fitting and the Role of Spin in Powering Transient Jets McClintock, Jeffrey E.; Narayan, Ramesh; Steiner, James F. Space Science Reviews, Vol. 183, Issue 1-4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-013-0003-9	journal	July 2013
Tests of General Relativity with GW150914 Abbott, B. P.; Allen, Bruce; Aufmuth, Peter College Park, MD : American Physical Society https://doi.org/10.15488/2124	other	January 2016
Space-Based Tests of Gravity with Laser Ranging Turyshev, Slava G.; Williams, James G. From Quantum to Cosmos https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814261210_0023	book	May 2009
Measuring Black Hole Spin using X-ray Reflection Spectroscopy Reynolds, Christopher S. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1302.3260	text	January 2013
Attempt to explain black hole spin in X-ray binaries with new physics Bambi, Cosimo arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1412.4987	text	January 2014
The Effective Field Theorist's Approach to Gravitational Dynamics Porto, Rafael A. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1601.04914	text	January 2016
Orbital Parameters for the Black Hole Binary XTE J1650-500 Orosz, Jerome A.; McClintock, Jeffrey E.; Remillard, Ronald A. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0404343	text	January 2004
Testing General Relativity with Atom Interferometry Dimopoulos, Savas; Graham, Peter W.; Hogan, Jason M. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.gr-qc/0610047	text	January 2006
Causality, Analyticity and an IR Obstruction to UV Completion Adams, Allan; Arkani-Hamed, Nima; Dubovsky, Sergei arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.hep-th/0602178	text	January 2006

Cited By (18)

Effective field theory of black hole quasinormal modes in scalar-tensor theories Franciolini, Gabriele; Hui, Lam; Penco, Riccardo Journal of High Energy Physics, Vol. 2019, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep02(2019)127	journal	February 2019
All higher-curvature gravities as Generalized quasi-topological gravities Bueno, Pablo; Cano, Pablo A.; Moreno, Javier Journal of High Energy Physics, Vol. 2019, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep11(2019)062	journal	November 2019
Consistency of the standard model effective field theory Remmen, Grant N.; Rodd, Nicholas L. Journal of High Energy Physics, Vol. 2019, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep12(2019)032	journal	December 2019
Extreme gravity tests with gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences: (I) inspiral–merger Berti, Emanuele; Yagi, Kent; Yunes, Nicolás General Relativity and Gravitation, Vol. 50, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10714-018-2362-8	journal	April 2018
Towards the nonlinear regime in extensions to GR: assessing possible options Allwright, Gwyneth; Lehner, Luis Classical and Quantum Gravity, Vol. 36, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6382/ab0ee1	journal	April 2019
Effective field theory for gravitational radiation in scalar-tensor gravity Kuntz, Adrien; Piazza, Federico; Vernizzi, Filippo Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2019, Issue 05 https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2019/05/052	journal	May 2019
Black hole dynamics in Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory Hirschmann, Eric W.; Lehner, Luis; Liebling, Steven L. Physical Review D, Vol. 97, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.97.064032	journal	March 2018
Probing ultralight bosons with binary black holes Baumann, Daniel; Chia, Horng Sheng; Porto, Rafael A. Physical Review D, Vol. 99, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.99.044001	journal	February 2019
Forecasts for low spin black hole spectroscopy in Horndeski gravity Tattersall, Oliver J.; Ferreira, Pedro G. Physical Review D, Vol. 99, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.99.104082	journal	May 2019
Black Holes in an Effective Field Theory Extension of General Relativity Cardoso, Vitor; Kimura, Masashi; Maselli, Andrea Physical Review Letters, Vol. 121, Issue 25 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.121.251105	journal	December 2018
Probing ultralight bosons with binary black holes Baumann, Daniel; Chia, Horng Sheng; Porto, Rafael A. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg https://doi.org/10.3204/pubdb-2019-01975	text	January 2019
Black Hole Dynamics in Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton Theory Hirschmann, Eric W.; Lehner, Luis; Liebling, Steven L. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1706.09875	text	January 2017
Probing Ultralight Bosons with Binary Black Holes Baumann, Daniel; Chia, Horng Sheng; Porto, Rafael A. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1804.03208	text	January 2018
Towards the nonlinear regime in extensions to GR: assessing possible options Allwright, Gwyneth; Lehner, Luis arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1808.07897	text	January 2018
Effective Field Theory of Black Hole Quasinormal Modes in Scalar-Tensor Theories Franciolini, Gabriele; Hui, Lam; Penco, Riccardo arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1810.07706	text	January 2018
Forecasts for Low Spin Black Hole Spectroscopy in Horndeski Gravity Tattersall, Oliver J.; Ferreira, Pedro G. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1904.05112	text	January 2019
All higher-curvature gravities as Generalized quasi-topological gravities Bueno, Pablo; Cano, Pablo A.; Moreno, Javier arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1906.00987	text	January 2019
Parametrized black hole quasinormal ringdown. II. Coupled equations and quadratic corrections for nonrotating black holes McManus, Ryan; Berti, Emanuele; Macedo, Caio F. B. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1906.05155	text	January 2019