Lorentz Violation with Gravitational Waves: Constraints from NANOGrav and IPTA Data

2025/05/28 by Allahyari, Alireza, Davari, Mohammadreza, Mota, David F. · 3 citations
#Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2505.22736

Abstract

We explore a theoretical framework in which Lorentz symmetry is explicitly broken by incorporating derivative terms of the extrinsic curvature into the gravitational action. These modifications introduce a scale-dependent damping effect in the propagation of gravitational waves (GWs), governed by a characteristic energy scale denoted as M_LV . We derive the modified spectral energy density of GWs within this model and confront it with recent observational data from the NANOGrav 15-year dataset and the second data release of the International Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA). Our analysis yields a lower bound on the Lorentz-violating energy scale, finding M_LV > 10^-19 GeV at 68% confidence level. This result significantly improves upon previous constraints derived from LIGO/VIRGO binary merger observations. Our findings demonstrate the potential of pulsar timing arrays to probe fundamental symmetries of spacetime and offer new insights into possible extensions of general relativity.

Citations

• Limits on New Lorentz-violating Bosons
• Constraining parity and Lorentz violations in gravity with future ground- and space-based gravitational wave detectors
• Modified gravitational wave propagations in linearized gravity with Lorentz and diffeomorphism violations and their gravitational wave constraints
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• Search for an Isotropic Gravitational-wave Background with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array
• The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Evidence for a Gravitational-wave Background
• The second data release from the European Pulsar Timing Array
• Horizon-scale tests of gravity theories and fundamental physics from the Event Horizon Telescope image of Sagittarius A ∗
• Data tables for Lorentz andCPTviolation
• Einstein-Aether Theory

Cited by

• Quasinormal modes of scalar, electromagnetic, and gravitational perturbations in slowly rotating Kalb-Ramond black holes
• Beyond general relativity: gravitational waves in non-minimally coupled theories
• Scalar-induced gravitational waves in spatially covariant gravity

Related

• Primordial gravitational waves from spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking
• Forecasts for Constraining Lorentz-violating Damping of Gravitational Waves from Compact Binary Inspirals
• Constraining parity and Lorentz violations in gravity with future ground- and space-based gravitational wave detectors
• Constraints on Lorentz Invariance Violations from Gravitational Wave\n Observations
• Primordial observables of explicit diffeomorphism violation in gravity