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arXiv · 2206.06756

The dominating mode of two competing massive modes of quadratic gravity

Abstract

Over the last two decades, motivations for modified gravity have emerged from both theoretical and observational levels. $f(R)$ and Chern-Simons gravity have received more attention as they are the simplest generalization. However, $f(R)$ and Chern-Simons gravity contain only an additional scalar (spin-0) degree of freedom and, as a result, do not include other modes of modified theories of gravity. In contrast, quadratic gravity (also referred to as Stelle gravity) is the most general second-order modification to 4-D general relativity and contains a massive spin-2 mode that is not present in $f(R)$ and Chern-Simons gravity. Using two different physical settings $-$ the gravitational wave energy-flux measured by the detectors and the backreaction of the emitted gravitational radiation on the spacetime of the remnant black hole $-$ we demonstrate that massive spin-2 mode carries more energy than the spin-0 mode. Our analysis shows that the effects are pronounced for intermediate-mass black holes, which are prime targets for LISA.

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Avijit Chowdhury, Semin Xavier, S. Shankaranarayanan. 2022-06-14. The dominating mode of two competing massive modes of quadratic gravity. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-34802-8

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