Gravitational Waves in f(R) Gravity Power Law Model

Abstract: We investigate the different polarization modes of Gravitational Waves (GWs) in $f(R)$ gravity power law model in de Sitter space. It is seen that the massive scalar field polarization mode exists in this model. The mass of the scalar field depends highly on the background curvature and the power term $n$. However, we found that the model doesnot exhibit a massive scalar mode for $n=2$ and instead it shows a breathing mode in addition to the tensor plus and cross modes. Thus mass of the scalar field is found to vary with $n$ within the range $1 \leq n \leq 2$.