Quasinormal modes of thick branes in $f(R)$ gravity

We systematically investigate the quasinormal modes of thick branes in $f(R)$ gravity by numerically solving the Schrödinger-like perturbation equation of gravitational perturbations. To ensure the reliability of the results, we employ three complementary methods: the asymptotic iteration method, the direct integration of the wave equation, and the time-domain numerical evolution. We analyze how the model parameters influence the shape of the effective potential of gravitational perturbations and find that the structure of the potential barrier plays a significant role in shaping the quasinormal frequency spectrum. The results obtained from the three methods exhibit strong consistency, thereby ensuring the reliability of the calculations. In particular, the real parts of the quasinormal frequencies exhibit an approximately arithmetic progression, suggesting that the quasi-localized states can be understood as resonances between the barriers.

💡 Research Summary

This paper investigates the quasinormal modes (QNMs) of thick brane configurations within five‑dimensional f(R) gravity, focusing on the specific model f(R)=R+αR². After a brief motivation linking recent gravitational‑wave detections (LIGO‑Virgo‑KAGRA) to the importance of QNMs, the authors review the construction of thick branes as smooth domain‑wall solutions of a scalar field coupled to gravity. Two families of warp factors are considered: (A) a(y)=sechᴮ(ky) with integer B, and (B) A(y)=ln