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Main Authors: Jiang, Tong, Zhang, Chunyu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.14870
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author Jiang, Tong
Zhang, Chunyu
author_facet Jiang, Tong
Zhang, Chunyu
contents Probing extra polarizations in gravitational waves (GWs) with space-based detectors is the most direct method for testing theories of gravity. In this paper, by employing the second-generation time-delay interferometry (TDI) to cancel out the laser frequency noise in a rotating and flexing configuration with arm lengths varying linearly in time, we study the detectors' constraint ability on extra polarizations, and explore the impacts of TDI on the constraint of polarizations. Working in the parametrized post-Einstein (ppE) waveform framework, we find that the constraints on extra polarizations are significantly weaker than those for the tensor mode. For the tensor mode, the constraint ability for the detectors scales with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). At low frequency, due to signal cancellation effects, the SNR registered is lower for the detectors with TDI method than that with the simplified equal-arm Michelson interferometer method. Therefore, tensor-mode constraints are degraded when TDI is applied. Although the direct detection of extra polarizations remains challenging, the constraint ability of the space-based detectors on the vector mode is better than the scalar modes. Besides, the detectability on extra polarizations will be enhanced with TDI, and the improvement of the constraint on the vector mode is less than scalar modes due to the inclination-dependent waveforms.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_14870
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Constraint on gravitational-wave polarizations for space-based detectors with time-delay interferometry
Jiang, Tong
Zhang, Chunyu
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Probing extra polarizations in gravitational waves (GWs) with space-based detectors is the most direct method for testing theories of gravity. In this paper, by employing the second-generation time-delay interferometry (TDI) to cancel out the laser frequency noise in a rotating and flexing configuration with arm lengths varying linearly in time, we study the detectors' constraint ability on extra polarizations, and explore the impacts of TDI on the constraint of polarizations. Working in the parametrized post-Einstein (ppE) waveform framework, we find that the constraints on extra polarizations are significantly weaker than those for the tensor mode. For the tensor mode, the constraint ability for the detectors scales with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). At low frequency, due to signal cancellation effects, the SNR registered is lower for the detectors with TDI method than that with the simplified equal-arm Michelson interferometer method. Therefore, tensor-mode constraints are degraded when TDI is applied. Although the direct detection of extra polarizations remains challenging, the constraint ability of the space-based detectors on the vector mode is better than the scalar modes. Besides, the detectability on extra polarizations will be enhanced with TDI, and the improvement of the constraint on the vector mode is less than scalar modes due to the inclination-dependent waveforms.
title Constraint on gravitational-wave polarizations for space-based detectors with time-delay interferometry
topic General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.14870