Testing General Relativity with Low-Frequency, Space-Based Gravitational-Wave Detectors.
We review the tests of general relativity that will become possible with space-based gravitational-wave detectors operating in the ∼ 10-5- 1 Hz low-frequency band. The fundamental aspects of gravitation that can be tested include the presence of additional gravitational fields other than the metric; the number and tensorial nature of gravitational-wave polarization states; the velocity of propagation of gravitational waves; the binding energy and gravitational-wave radiation of binaries, and therefore the time evolution of binary inspirals; the strength and shape of the waves emitted from binary mergers and ringdowns; the true nature of astrophysical black holes; and much more. The strength of this science alone calls for the swift implementation of a space-based detector; the remarkable richness of astrophysics, astronomy, and cosmology in the low-frequency gravitational-wave band make the case even stronger.
Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA UK.
Jonathan R
JR
Gair
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 USA.
Michele
M
Vallisneri
Center for Interdisclipinary Research and Exploration in Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208 USA.
Shane L
SL
Larson
Gravitational Astrophysics Lab, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA.
John G
JG
Baker
LISA; black holes; data analysis; eLISA; general relativity; gravitation; gravitational waves