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Non-tensorial gravitational wave background in NANOGrav 12.5-year data set

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Abstract

We perform the first search for an isotropic non-tensorial gravitational-wave background (GWB) allowed in general metric theories of gravity in the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) 12.5-year data set. By modeling the GWB as a power-law spectrum, we find strong Bayesian indication for a spatially correlated process with scalar transverse (ST) correlations whose Bayes factor versus the spatially uncorrelated common-spectrum process is 107 ± 7, but no statistically significant evidence for the tensor transverse, vector longitudinal, and scalar longitudinal polarization modes. The median and the 90% equal-tail amplitudes of ST mode are \(\cal{A}_{\text{ST}}=1.06_{-0.28}^{+0.35}\times10^{-15}\), or equivalently the energy density parameter per logarithm frequency is \(\Omega_{\text{GW}}^{\text{ST}}=1.54_{-0.71}^{+1.21}\times10^{-9}\), at frequency of 1/year.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Zu-Cheng Chen, Chen Yuan & Qing-Guo Huang

  2. School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Zu-Cheng Chen, Chen Yuan & Qing-Guo Huang

  3. School of Fundamental Physics and Mathematical Sciences, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, UCAS, Hangzhou, 310024, China

    Qing-Guo Huang

  4. Center for Gravitation and Cosmology, College of Physical Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China

    Qing-Guo Huang

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  1. Zu-Cheng Chen
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  2. Chen Yuan
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Correspondence to Qing-Guo Huang.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2020YFC2201502), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11975019, 11690021, 11991052, and 12047503), the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. ZDBS-LY-7009), the Chinese Academy of Sciences Project for Young Scientists in Basic Research (Grant No. YSBR-006), and the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDPB15). We acknowledge the use of HPC Cluster of ITP-CAS and HPC Cluster of Tianhe II in National Supercomputing Center in Guangzhou.

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Chen, ZC., Yuan, C. & Huang, QG. Non-tensorial gravitational wave background in NANOGrav 12.5-year data set. Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 64, 120412 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-021-1797-y

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