Testing General Relativity with Low-Frequency, Space-Based
Gravitational-Wave Detectors

doi:doi:10.12942/lrr-2013-7

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"Testing General Relativity with Low-Frequency, Space-Based Gravitational-Wave Detectors"

Jonathan R. Gair and Michele Vallisneri and Shane L. Larson and John G. Baker

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	Abstract
1	Introduction
2	The Theory of Gravitation
	2.1	Will’s “standard model” of gravitational theories
	2.2	Alternative theories
	2.3	The black-hole paradigm
3	Space-Based Missions to Detect Gravitational Waves
	3.1	The classic LISA architecture
	3.2	LISA-like observatories
	3.3	Mid-frequency space-based observatories
4	Summary of Low-Frequency Gravitational-Wave Sources
	4.1	Massive black-hole coalescences
	4.2	Extreme-mass-ratio inspirals
	4.3	Galactic binaries
5	Gravitational-Wave Tests of Gravitational Physics
	5.1	The “classic tests” of general relativity with gravitational waves
	5.2	Tests of general relativity with phenomenological inspiral template families
	5.3	Beyond the binary inspiral
6	Tests of the Nature and Structure of Black Holes
	6.1	Current observational status
	6.2	Tests of black-hole structure using EMRIs
	6.3	Tests of black-hole structure using ringdown radiation: black-hole spectroscopy
	6.4	Prospects from gravitational-wave and other observations
7	Discussion
	Acknowledgements
	References
	Footnotes
	Figures
	Tables

Testing General Relativity with Low-Frequency, Space-Based Gravitational-Wave Detectors

Jonathan R. Gair

Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road,
Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK

'External link'

http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jgair

and

Michele Vallisneri

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, CA 91109, USA

'External link'

http://www.vallis.org

and

Shane L. Larson

Center for Interdisclipinary Research and Exploration in Astrophysics,
Department of Physics and Astronomy,
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA

and

John G. Baker

Gravitational Astrophysics Lab, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,
8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA

Abstract

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.

Keywords: general relativity, gravitational waves, LISA, eLISA, data analysis, black holes, gravitation