Using Graviton EFT and Massive Gravity to Compute Gravitational Potentials for Black Hole Inspirals

Citation

Suter, Bethany Anne (2020) Using Graviton EFT and Massive Gravity to Compute Gravitational Potentials for Black Hole Inspirals. Senior thesis (Major), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/jh6b-bt24. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:10212021-181920642

Abstract

This year, the LIGO detectors entered their third observing run and have been detecting black hole interactions with increasing precision and sensitivity. These detections have opened up a new way to compare the predictions of Einsteinian gravity with more exotic models. One of these models, massive gravity, is a concrete toy to use in testing these predictions. This project uses ideas from EFT and standard techniques from quantum field theory to calculate scattering amplitudes for scalar particles interacting via gravitons. We first calculated amplitudes up to the 1-looplevel assuming the standard massless graviton and then assuming a massive graviton. We then mapped these amplitudes to gravitational potentials for black holes. Future work will include looking at the different predictions of these two theories (massless and massive gravitons), and comparing them to black hole inspiral data to determine if the massive graviton theory could be a legitimate contender as a model for gravity.

Thesis Files