Detecting the massive vector field with extreme mass-ratio inspirals

Abstract: The future space-borne gravitational wave detector, Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), has the potential of detecting the fundamental fields, such as the charge and mass of ultra-light scalar field. In this paper we study the effect of lighter vector field on the gravitational waveforms from extreme mass-ratio inspirals (EMRI) system, consisting of a stellar-mass object and the massive black hole (MBH) in the Einstein-Proca theory of a massive vector field coupling to gravity. Using the perturbation theory, we compute the energy fluxes including the contributions of the Proca field and the gravitational field, then obtain the adiabatic inspiraling orbits and corresponding waveforms. Our results demonstrate that the vector charge and mass carried by the secondary body lead to detectable effects on EMRI waveform, and LISA has the potential to measure the mass of the Proca field with greater precision.