Phase decoherence of gravitational wave backgrounds
File(s)
Working paper
Author(s)
Margalit, Aoibheann
Contaldi, Carlo R
Pieroni, Mauro
Type
Working Paper
Abstract
Metric perturbations affect the phase of gravitational waves as they
propagate through the inhomogeneous universe. This effect causes Stochastic
Gravitational Wave Backgrounds (SGWBs) to lose any phase coherence that may
have been present at emission or horizon entry. We show that, for a standard
cosmological model, this implies complete loss of coherence above frequencies
$f \sim 10^{-12}$ Hz. The result is that any attempts to map SGWBs using
phase-coherent methods have no foreseeable applications. Incoherent methods
that solve directly for the intensity of the SGWBs are the only methods that
can reconstruct the angular dependence of any SGWB.
propagate through the inhomogeneous universe. This effect causes Stochastic
Gravitational Wave Backgrounds (SGWBs) to lose any phase coherence that may
have been present at emission or horizon entry. We show that, for a standard
cosmological model, this implies complete loss of coherence above frequencies
$f \sim 10^{-12}$ Hz. The result is that any attempts to map SGWBs using
phase-coherent methods have no foreseeable applications. Incoherent methods
that solve directly for the intensity of the SGWBs are the only methods that
can reconstruct the angular dependence of any SGWB.
Date Issued
2020-10-05
Date Acceptance
2020-09-09
Citation
Physical Reveiw D, 2020
Publisher
arXiv
Journal / Book Title
Physical Reveiw D
Copyright Statement
© 2020 The Author(s)
Sponsor
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Identifier
http://arxiv.org/abs/2004.01727v1
Grant Number
ST/P000762/1
Subjects
astro-ph.CO
astro-ph.CO
astro-ph.IM
gr-qc
Notes
5 pages, 3 figures
Publication Status
Published