Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Gravitational waves (GWs) can undoubtedly serve as a messenger from the early Universe acting as well as a novel probe of the underlying gravity theory. In this work, motivated by one-loop vacuum-polarization effects on curved spacetime, we investigate a gravitational theory with non-minimal curvature-electromagnetic coupling terms of the form ξ R / M Pl 2 F μν F μν , where M Pl is the reduced Planck mass, R is the scalar curvature and F μν the Faraday tensor, being responsible for the generation of primordial electromagnetic fields. We study then the GW signatures of such coupling terms deriving in particular for the first time to the best of our knowledge the modified tensor modes equation of motion. Remarkably, we find a universal infrared (IR) frequency scaling f 5 of the electromagnetically induced GW (EMIGW) signal, which, depending on the energy scale of inflation, the duration of inflation and reheating as well as the dynamical behaviour of the coupling function ξ , can be well within the detection sensitivity bands of GW experiments such as SKA, LISA, ET and BBO, being thus potentially detectable in the future by GW observatories.
Institutions: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Napoli, National Observatory of Athens, Scuola Superiore Meridionale, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University of Naples Federico II, University of Salerno, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Gruppo Collegato di Salerno
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,290
OpenAlex ID: W4406232417