Gravitational rainbows: LIGO and dark energy at its cutoff
File(s)PhysRevLett.121.221101.pdf (248.64 KB)
Published version
Author(s)
de Rham, Claudia
Melville, Scott
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The recent direct detection of gravitational waves from a neutron star merger with optical counterpart has been used to severely constrain models of dark energy that typically predict a modification of the gravitational wave speed. However, the energy scales observed at LIGO, and the particular frequency of the neutron star event, lie very close to the strong coupling scale or cutoff associated with many dark energy models. While it is true that at very low energies one expects gravitational waves to travel at a speed different than light in these models, the same is no longer necessarily true as one reaches energy scales close to the cutoff. We show explicitly how this occurs in a simple model with a known partial UV completion. Within the context of Horndeski, we show how the operators that naturally lie at the cutoff scale can affect the speed of propagation of gravitational waves and bring it back to unity at LIGO scales. We discuss how further missions including LISA and PTAs could play an essential role in testing such models.
Date Issued
2018-11-26
Date Acceptance
2018-11-26
Citation
Physical Review Letters, 2018, 121 (22), pp.1-6
ISSN
0031-9007
Publisher
American Physical Society
Start Page
1
End Page
6
Journal / Book Title
Physical Review Letters
Volume
121
Issue
22
Copyright Statement
© 2018 Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to
the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation,
and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3
.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to
the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation,
and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3
.
Sponsor
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
The Royal Society
European Research Council
Science and Technology Facilities Council [2006-2012]
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000451339300001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
ST/P000762/1
PHTH_P62063
724659 MassiveCosmo ERC-2016-COG
ST/P000762/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Physics
WAVES
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 221101
Date Publish Online
2018-11-26