LISA, binary stars, and the mass of the graviton

Authors

Curt Cutler
William A. Hiscock
Shane L. Larson, Utah State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Physical Review D

Volume

67

Issue

2

Publication Date

2003

First Page

024015

Arxiv Identifier

arXiv:gr-qc/0209101v1

Abstract

We extend and improve earlier estimates of the ability of the proposed LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) gravitational wave detector to place upper bounds on the graviton mass m_g by comparing the arrival times of gravitational and electromagnetic signals from binary star systems. We show that the best possible limit on m_g obtainable this way is ∼50 times better than the current limit set by solar system measurements. Among currently known, well-understood binaries, 4U1820-30 is the best for this purpose; LISA observations of 4U1820-30 should yield a limit ≈3-4 times better than the present solar system bound. AM CVn-type binaries offer the prospect of improving the limit by a factor of 10, if such systems can be better understood by the time of the LISA mission. We briefly discuss the likelihood that radio and optical searches during the next decade will yield binaries that more closely approach the best possible case.

Comments

Published by the American Physical Society in Physical Review D. Publisher PDF available through remote link.

Author e-print is deposited in arXiv.org.

Recommended Citation

Cutler, C., W. A. Hiscock, et al. (2003). "LISA, binary stars, and the mass of the graviton." Physical Review D 67(2): 024015.