Detecting extra dimensions with gravity wave spectroscopy: the black string brane-world

Abstract

Using the black string between two branes as a model of a brane-world black hole, we compute the gravity wave perturbations and identify the features arising from the additional polarizations of the graviton. The standard four-dimensional gravitational wave signal acquires late-time oscillations due to massive modes of the graviton. The Fourier transform of these oscillations shows a series of spikes associated with the masses of the Kaluza-Klein modes, providing in principle a spectroscopic signature of extra dimensions.

4 pages, 5 figures. Comments on the frequency and detectability of the massive mode signal added, and title modified. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett