arXiv · 2601.03341
Cavity Multimodes as an Array for High-Frequency Gravitational Waves
Abstract
Microwave cavities operated in the presence of a background magnetic field provide a promising avenue for detecting high-frequency gravitational waves (HFGWs). We demonstrate for the first time that the distinct antenna patterns of multiple electromagnetic modes within a single cavity enable localization and reconstruction of key properties of an incoming HFGW signal, including its polarization ratio and frequency drift rate. Using a 9-cell cavity commonly employed in particle accelerators as a representative example, we analyze the time-domain response of 18 nearly degenerate modes, which can be sequentially excited by a frequency-drifting signal. The sensitivity is further enhanced by the number of available modes, in close analogy to the scaling achieved by a network of independent detectors, enabling sensitivity to astrophysically plausible binary sources.
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Diego Blas, Yifan Chen, Yuxin Liu, Yanfei Shang, Jing Shu. 2026-01-06. Cavity Multimodes as an Array for High-Frequency Gravitational Waves. https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.03341
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