Detecting Massive Scalar Fields with Extreme Mass-Ratio Inspirals

Barsanti, Susanna; Maselli, Andrea; Sotiriou, Thomas P.; Gualtieri, Leonardo

Abstract

We study the imprint of light scalar fields on gravitational waves from extreme mass-ratio inspirals—binary systems with a very large mass asymmetry. We first show that, to leading order in the mass ratio, any effects of the scalar on the waveform are captured fully by two parameters: the mass of the scalar and the scalar charge of the secondary compact object. We then use this theory-agnostic framework to show that the future observations by LISA will be able to simultaneously measure both of these parameters with enough accuracy to detect ultralight scalars.

Citation

Barsanti, S., Maselli, A., Sotiriou, T. P., & Gualtieri, L. (2023). Detecting Massive Scalar Fields with Extreme Mass-Ratio Inspirals. Physical Review Letters, 131(5), Article 051401. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.131.051401

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 25, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Aug 3, 2023
• Publication Date: Aug 3, 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 26, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 26, 2024
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Print ISSN: 0031-9007
• Electronic ISSN: 1079-7114
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 131
• Issue: 5
• Article Number: 051401
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.131.051401
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/24414402
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.051401