Measurement of parity violation in the early universe using gravitational-wave detectors

S. G. Crowder; R. Namba; V. Mandic; S. Mukohyama; M. Peloso

doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2013.08.077

Measurement of parity violation in the early universe using gravitational-wave detectors

S. G. Crowder, R. Namba, V. Mandic, S. Mukohyama, M. Peloso

Physics and Astronomy (Twin Cities)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

69 Scopus citations

Abstract

A stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB) is expected to arise from the superposition of many independent and unresolved gravitational-wave signals, of either cosmological or astrophysical origin. Some cosmological models (characterized, for instance, by a pseudo-scalar inflaton, or by some modification of gravity) break parity, leading to a polarized isotropic SGWB. We present the first upper limit on this parity violation from direct gravitational-wave measurements by measuring polarization of the SGWB in recent LIGO data and by assuming a generic power-law SGWB spectrum across the LIGO-sensitive frequency region. We also estimate sensitivity to parity violation for future generations of gravitational-wave detectors, both for a power-law spectrum and for a specific model of axion inflation. Since astrophysical sources are not expected to produce a polarized SGWB, measurements of polarization in the SGWB would provide a new way of differentiating between the cosmological and astrophysical SGWB sources.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	66-71
Number of pages	6
Journal	Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
Volume	726
Issue number	1-3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2013.08.077
State	Published - 2013

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The work of S.G.C. and V.M. was in part supported by the NSF grant PHY1204944 . The work of R.N. and M.P. was supported in part by DOE grant DE-FG02-94ER-40823 at the University of Minnesota. The work of S.M. was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research 24540256 and 21111006 , by Japan–Russia Research Cooperative Program and by the WPI Initiative, MEXT , Japan. M.P. thanks the University and the INFN of Padua for their friendly hospitality and for partial support during his sabbatical leave. The authors thank LIGO and Virgo Collaborations for providing the data plotted in Fig. 6 of [15] .

Keywords

Axion inflation
Gravitational-wave detector
Parity violation
Stochastic gravitational-wave background

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title = "Measurement of parity violation in the early universe using gravitational-wave detectors",

abstract = "A stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB) is expected to arise from the superposition of many independent and unresolved gravitational-wave signals, of either cosmological or astrophysical origin. Some cosmological models (characterized, for instance, by a pseudo-scalar inflaton, or by some modification of gravity) break parity, leading to a polarized isotropic SGWB. We present the first upper limit on this parity violation from direct gravitational-wave measurements by measuring polarization of the SGWB in recent LIGO data and by assuming a generic power-law SGWB spectrum across the LIGO-sensitive frequency region. We also estimate sensitivity to parity violation for future generations of gravitational-wave detectors, both for a power-law spectrum and for a specific model of axion inflation. Since astrophysical sources are not expected to produce a polarized SGWB, measurements of polarization in the SGWB would provide a new way of differentiating between the cosmological and astrophysical SGWB sources.",

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note = "Funding Information: The work of S.G.C. and V.M. was in part supported by the NSF grant PHY1204944 . The work of R.N. and M.P. was supported in part by DOE grant DE-FG02-94ER-40823 at the University of Minnesota. The work of S.M. was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research 24540256 and 21111006 , by Japan–Russia Research Cooperative Program and by the WPI Initiative, MEXT , Japan. M.P. thanks the University and the INFN of Padua for their friendly hospitality and for partial support during his sabbatical leave. The authors thank LIGO and Virgo Collaborations for providing the data plotted in Fig. 6 of [15] .",

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N2 - A stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB) is expected to arise from the superposition of many independent and unresolved gravitational-wave signals, of either cosmological or astrophysical origin. Some cosmological models (characterized, for instance, by a pseudo-scalar inflaton, or by some modification of gravity) break parity, leading to a polarized isotropic SGWB. We present the first upper limit on this parity violation from direct gravitational-wave measurements by measuring polarization of the SGWB in recent LIGO data and by assuming a generic power-law SGWB spectrum across the LIGO-sensitive frequency region. We also estimate sensitivity to parity violation for future generations of gravitational-wave detectors, both for a power-law spectrum and for a specific model of axion inflation. Since astrophysical sources are not expected to produce a polarized SGWB, measurements of polarization in the SGWB would provide a new way of differentiating between the cosmological and astrophysical SGWB sources.

AB - A stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB) is expected to arise from the superposition of many independent and unresolved gravitational-wave signals, of either cosmological or astrophysical origin. Some cosmological models (characterized, for instance, by a pseudo-scalar inflaton, or by some modification of gravity) break parity, leading to a polarized isotropic SGWB. We present the first upper limit on this parity violation from direct gravitational-wave measurements by measuring polarization of the SGWB in recent LIGO data and by assuming a generic power-law SGWB spectrum across the LIGO-sensitive frequency region. We also estimate sensitivity to parity violation for future generations of gravitational-wave detectors, both for a power-law spectrum and for a specific model of axion inflation. Since astrophysical sources are not expected to produce a polarized SGWB, measurements of polarization in the SGWB would provide a new way of differentiating between the cosmological and astrophysical SGWB sources.

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Measurement of parity violation in the early universe using gravitational-wave detectors

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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