Gravitational waves in Modified Gauss-Bonnet Gravity

Abstract: We study the gravitational waves in modified Gauss-Bonnet gravity. Applying the metric perturbation around a cosmological background, we obtain explicit expressions for the wave equations. It is shown that the speed of the traceless mode is equal to the speed of light. An additional massive scalar mode appears in the propagation of the gravitational waves. To find phenomena beyond the general relativity the scalar mode mass is calculated as a function of the background curvature in some typical models.