Atomic clocks and gravitational waves as probes of non-metricity
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arXiv
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| Hauptverfasser: | , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866911402426368000 |
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| author | Khodadi, Mohsen Saridakis, Emmanuel N. |
| author_facet | Khodadi, Mohsen Saridakis, Emmanuel N. |
| contents | Non-metricity provides a natural extension of Riemannian geometry, yet its experimental signatures remain largely unexplored. In this work we investigate how spacetime non-metricity can be probed through high-precision observations, focusing on atomic clocks and gravitational waves as complementary tools. Working within Weyl geometry as a minimal realization of vectorial non-metricity, we formulate observable effects in a gauge-invariant manner and show that they are associated with path-dependent length transport governed by the Weyl field strength. We derive constraints from atomic-clock experiments and demonstrate that, although gravitational waves do not directly source the Weyl field at linear order, its dynamical contribution induces a backreaction on gravitational-wave propagation, leading to an anomalous strain. As a result, the absence of deviations from General Relativity in current gravitational-wave observations already places meaningful and strong constraints on dynamical non-metric degrees of freedom. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_19407 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Atomic clocks and gravitational waves as probes of non-metricity Khodadi, Mohsen Saridakis, Emmanuel N. General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena High Energy Physics - Theory Non-metricity provides a natural extension of Riemannian geometry, yet its experimental signatures remain largely unexplored. In this work we investigate how spacetime non-metricity can be probed through high-precision observations, focusing on atomic clocks and gravitational waves as complementary tools. Working within Weyl geometry as a minimal realization of vectorial non-metricity, we formulate observable effects in a gauge-invariant manner and show that they are associated with path-dependent length transport governed by the Weyl field strength. We derive constraints from atomic-clock experiments and demonstrate that, although gravitational waves do not directly source the Weyl field at linear order, its dynamical contribution induces a backreaction on gravitational-wave propagation, leading to an anomalous strain. As a result, the absence of deviations from General Relativity in current gravitational-wave observations already places meaningful and strong constraints on dynamical non-metric degrees of freedom. |
| title | Atomic clocks and gravitational waves as probes of non-metricity |
| topic | General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena High Energy Physics - Theory |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.19407 |