Testing the variation of the fine structure constant with strongly lensed gravitational waves

Abstract

The possible variation of the electromagnetic fine structure constant $\alpha_e$ on cosmological scales arouses great interests in recent years. The strongly lensed gravitational waves and the electromagnetic counterparts could be used to test this variation. Under the assumption that the speed of photon could be modified, while the speed of GW is the same as GR predicated, and they both propagate in a flat Friedman-Robertson-Walker universe, we investigate the difference of time delays of the images and derive the upper bound of the variation of $\alpha_e$. For a typical lensing system in the standard cosmological models, we obtain $B\cos\theta\leq 1.85\times10^{-5}$, where $B$ is the dipolar amplitude and $\theta$ is the angle between observation and the preferred direction. Our result is consistent with the most up-to-date observations on $\alpha_e$. In addition, the observations of strongly lensed gravitational waves and the electromagnetic counterparts could be used to test which types of alternative theories of gravity can account for the variation of $\alpha_e$.