Submitting Campus
Prescott
Department
Physics and Astronomy
Document Type
Article
Publication/Presentation Date
11-6-2015
Abstract/Description
In this essay, we examine the response of an Unruh–DeWitt (UD) detector (a quantum two-level system) to a gravitational wave background. The spectrum of the UD detector is of the same form as some scattering processes or three body decays such as muon-electron scattering or muon decay. Based on this similarity, we propose that the UD detector response implies a “decay” or attenuation of gravitons, G, into photons, γ, via G+G→γ+γ or G→γ+γ+G. Over large distances such a decay/attenuation may have consequences in regard to the detection of gravitational waves.
Publication Title
International Journal of Modern Physics D
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218271815440174
Publisher
World Scientific
Required Publisher’s Statement
Preprint of an article submitted for consideration in the International Journal of Modern Physics D © 2015 [copyright World Scientific Publishing Company] Visit Journal's website
Scholarly Commons Citation
Jones, P., & Singleton, D. (2015). Gravitons to Photons--Attenuation of Gravitational Waves. International Journal of Modern Physics D, 24(12). https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218271815440174
Additional Information
This essay received an Honorable Mention in the 2015 Essay Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation.
Dr. Jones became affiliated with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University before this paper was published in its final version.