Testing Chern-Simons modified gravity with observations of extreme-mass-ratio binaries

Abstract

Extreme-Mass-Ratio Inspirals (EMRIs) are one of the most promising sources of gravitational waves (GWs) for space-based detectors like the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). EMRIs consist of a compact stellar object orbiting around a massive black hole (MBH). Since EMRI signals are expected to be long lasting (containing of the order of hundred thousand cycles), they will encode the structure of the MBH gravitational potential in a precise way such that features depending on the theory of gravity governing the system may be distinguished. That is, EMRI signals may be used to test gravity and the geometry of black holes. However, the development of a practical methodology for computing the generation and propagation of GWs from EMRIs in theories of gravity different than General Relativity (GR) has only recently begun. In this paper, we present a parameter estimation study of EMRIs in a particular modification of GR, which is described by a four-dimensional Chern-Simons (CS) gravitational term. We focus on determining to what extent a space-based GW observatory like LISA could distinguish between GR and CS gravity through the detection of GWs from EMRIs.

10 pages, JPCS of the Amaldi 9 and NRDA 2011

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Testing General Relativity with Present and Future Astrophysical Observations
• Surrogate model for gravitational wave signals from non-spinning, comparable- to large-mass-ratio black hole binaries built on black hole perturbation theory waveforms calibrated to numerical relativity
• Gravitational wave from extreme mass-ratio inspirals as a probe of extra dimensions
• Exploring Cartan gravity with dynamical symmetry breaking
• High-precision source characterization of intermediate mass-ratio black hole coalescences with gravitational waves: The importance of higher-order multipoles