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Probing gravitational-wave four-point correlators

Martina Ciprini Orcid Logo, Maria Lucia Marcelli Orcid Logo, Gianmassimo Tasinato Orcid Logo

Physical Review D, Volume: 113, Issue: 10

Swansea University Author: Gianmassimo Tasinato Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1103/3pd3-r3x8

Abstract

Stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds (SGWBs) of primordial origin offer a powerful probe of early-Universe physics and possible dark-sector dynamics. While most searches focus on the GW power spectrum, additional information is encoded in higher-order correlators that characterize the statistic...

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Published in: Physical Review D
ISSN: 2470-0010 2470-0029
Published: American Physical Society (APS) 2026
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71907
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spelling 2026-06-16T14:57:15.8162083 v2 71907 2026-05-15 Probing gravitational-wave four-point correlators cb754b073d1e4949c5e3db97744d3301 0000-0002-9835-4864 Gianmassimo Tasinato Gianmassimo Tasinato true false 2026-05-15 BGPS Stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds (SGWBs) of primordial origin offer a powerful probe of early-Universe physics and possible dark-sector dynamics. While most searches focus on the GW power spectrum, additional information is encoded in higher-order correlators that characterize the statistical properties of the signal. In this work we study non-Gaussian features of a cosmological SGWB generated at second order by vector fluctuations, a class of sources well motivated in early-Universe scenarios. Within this framework we develop tools to characterize higher-order GW correlators and compute representative four-point functions that generate a connected contribution to the GW trispectrum. We show that the trispectrum amplitude scales as the square of the GW power spectrum and peaks in characteristic folded momentum configurations, reflecting the structure of the nonlinear source. We then explore the observational implications. First, we demonstrate that the connected trispectrum contributes to the variance of two-point overlap reduction functions, including the Hellings-Downs curve relevant for pulsar timing arrays. We then construct the optimal estimator to measure the connected trispectrum with ground-based interferometers. Our results highlight how non-Gaussian SGWB statistics provide a complementary observable to probe the origin of GW backgrounds and to distinguish cosmological from astrophysical sources. Journal Article Physical Review D 113 10 American Physical Society (APS) 2470-0010 2470-0029 28 5 2026 2026-05-28 10.1103/3pd3-r3x8 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) GT is partially funded by the STFC grants ST/T000813/1 and ST/X000648/1. 2026-06-16T14:57:15.8162083 2026-05-15T10:18:23.6979660 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Physics Martina Ciprini 0009-0006-2504-0115 1 Maria Lucia Marcelli 0009-0002-0567-7144 2 Gianmassimo Tasinato 0000-0002-9835-4864 3 71907__36980__7ba42126c8264b57be91cfc3529458a7.pdf 71907.VoR.pdf 2026-06-16T14:55:25.8499912 Output 1566688 application/pdf Version of Record true Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Probing gravitational-wave four-point correlators
spellingShingle Probing gravitational-wave four-point correlators
Gianmassimo Tasinato
title_short Probing gravitational-wave four-point correlators
title_full Probing gravitational-wave four-point correlators
title_fullStr Probing gravitational-wave four-point correlators
title_full_unstemmed Probing gravitational-wave four-point correlators
title_sort Probing gravitational-wave four-point correlators
author_id_str_mv cb754b073d1e4949c5e3db97744d3301
author_id_fullname_str_mv cb754b073d1e4949c5e3db97744d3301_***_Gianmassimo Tasinato
author Gianmassimo Tasinato
author2 Martina Ciprini
Maria Lucia Marcelli
Gianmassimo Tasinato
format Journal article
container_title Physical Review D
container_volume 113
container_issue 10
publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
issn 2470-0010
2470-0029
doi_str_mv 10.1103/3pd3-r3x8
publisher American Physical Society (APS)
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Physics{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Physics
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description Stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds (SGWBs) of primordial origin offer a powerful probe of early-Universe physics and possible dark-sector dynamics. While most searches focus on the GW power spectrum, additional information is encoded in higher-order correlators that characterize the statistical properties of the signal. In this work we study non-Gaussian features of a cosmological SGWB generated at second order by vector fluctuations, a class of sources well motivated in early-Universe scenarios. Within this framework we develop tools to characterize higher-order GW correlators and compute representative four-point functions that generate a connected contribution to the GW trispectrum. We show that the trispectrum amplitude scales as the square of the GW power spectrum and peaks in characteristic folded momentum configurations, reflecting the structure of the nonlinear source. We then explore the observational implications. First, we demonstrate that the connected trispectrum contributes to the variance of two-point overlap reduction functions, including the Hellings-Downs curve relevant for pulsar timing arrays. We then construct the optimal estimator to measure the connected trispectrum with ground-based interferometers. Our results highlight how non-Gaussian SGWB statistics provide a complementary observable to probe the origin of GW backgrounds and to distinguish cosmological from astrophysical sources.
published_date 2026-05-28T06:02:27Z
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