The stochastic gravitational-wave background in the absence of horizons

Abstract

Gravitational-wave astronomy has the potential to explore one of the deepest and most puzzling aspects of Einstein's theory: the existence of black holes. A plethora of ultracompact, horizonless objects have been proposed to arise in models inspired by quantum gravity. These objects may solve Hawking's information-loss paradox and the singularity problem associated with black holes, while mimicking almost all of their classical properties. They are, however, generically unstable on relatively short timescales. Here, we show that this "ergoregion instability" leads to a strong stochastic background of gravitational waves, at a level detectable by current and future gravitational-wave detectors. The absence of such background in the first observation run of Advanced LIGO already imposes the most stringent limits to date on black-hole alternatives, showing that certain models of "quantum-dressed" stellar black holes can be at most a small percentage of the total population. The future LISA mission will allow for similar constraints on supermassive black-hole mimickers.

arXiv comment7 pages, 4 figures. Analysis improved by using spin-2 instability timescale, conclusions unchanged. Published in CQG Letters

References in corpus (50)

• Advanced Virgo: a 2nd generation interferometric gravitational wave detector
• Quasinormal modes of black holes and black branes
• Characterization of the LIGO detectors during their sixth science run
• Binary Black Hole Mergers in the first Advanced LIGO Observing Run
• The fuzzball proposal for black holes: an elementary review
• Is the gravitational-wave ringdown a probe of the event horizon?
• Gravitational Vacuum Condensate Stars
• The international pulsar timing array project: using pulsars as a gravitational wave detector
• Can environmental effects spoil precision gravitational-wave astrophysics?
• Sensitivity curves for searches for gravitational-wave backgrounds
• Echoes of ECOs: gravitational-wave signatures of exotic compact objects and of quantum corrections at the horizon scale
• The stochastic gravitational-wave background from massive black hole binary systems: implications for observations with Pulsar Timing Arrays
• The North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves
• The observational evidence for horizons: from echoes to precision gravitational-wave physics
• GW150914: Implications for the stochastic gravitational wave background from binary black holes
• Tests for the existence of horizons through gravitational wave echoes
• Gravitational wave searches for ultralight bosons with LIGO and LISA
• Upper Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Advanced LIGO's First Observing Run
• Testing General Relativity with Low-Frequency, Space-Based Gravitational-Wave Detectors
• Testing strong-field gravity with tidal Love numbers
• Spectroscopy of Kerr black holes with Earth- and space-based interferometers
• The evolution of massive black holes and their spins in their galactic hosts
• The International Pulsar Timing Array
• Measuring the Spins of Accreting Black Holes
• Testing the black hole "no-hair" hypothesis
• Stochastic and resolvable gravitational waves from ultralight bosons
• Black Holes in Astrophysics
• The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array
• Ergoregion instability of ultra-compact astrophysical objects
• Linking the spin evolution of massive black holes to galaxy kinematics
• Co-evolution of nuclear star clusters, massive black holes and their host galaxies
• Testing the binary black hole nature of a compact binary coalescence
• On the mass radiated by coalescing black-hole binaries
• Metallicity-constrained merger rates of binary black holes and the stochastic gravitational wave background
• On The Nature of the Compact Dark Mass at the Galactic Center
• Exotic Compact Objects and How to Quench their Ergoregion Instability
• Where are all the gravastars? Limits upon the gravastar model from accreting black holes
• Understanding Compact Object Formation and Natal Kicks. III. The case of Cygnus X-1
• Nonviolent information transfer from black holes: a field theory parameterization
• Formation of the black-hole binary M33 X-7 via mass-exchange in a tight massive system
• Instability of hyper-compact Kerr-like objects
• Nonviolent unitarization: basic postulates to soft quantum structure of black holes
• On gravitational-wave echoes from neutron-star binary coalescences
• Where does the physics of extreme gravitational collapse reside?
• The imprint of massive black-hole mergers on the correlation between nuclear clusters and their host galaxies
• The most massive black holes on the Fundamental Plane of Black Hole Accretion
• Modulated Hawking radiation and a nonviolent channel for information release
• The nightmare scenario: measuring the stochastic gravitational-wave background from stalling massive black-hole binaries with pulsar-timing arrays
• Black holes as bubbles of AdS
• Black hole spin: theory and observation

Cited by in corpus (50)

• Science Case for the Einstein Telescope
• Testing the nature of dark compact objects: a status report
• Prospects for Fundamental Physics with LISA
• New Horizons for Fundamental Physics with LISA
• Phenomenological aspects of black holes beyond general relativity
• Anisotropic stars as ultracompact objects in General Relativity
• Gravitational wave echoes from black hole area quantization
• Ergoregion instability of exotic compact objects: electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations and the role of absorption
• Tidal heating as a discriminator for horizons in extreme mass ratio inspirals
• Analytical model for gravitational-wave echoes from spinning remnants
• Echoes from Quantum Black Holes
• The peculiar acceleration of stellar-origin black hole binaries: measurement and biases with LISA
• Extreme mass-ratio inspirals around a spinning horizonless compact object
• On gravitational echoes from ultracompact exotic stars
• Bridging the $\mu$Hz gap in the gravitational-wave landscape with binary resonance
• On Reflectivity of Quantum Black Hole Horizons
• Parameter estimation for black hole echo signals and their statistical significance
• Foreground cleaning and template-free stochastic background extraction for LISA
• Tidal Love Numbers of Black Holes and Neutron Stars in the Presence of Higher Dimensions: Implications of GW170817
• Possible Causes of False General Relativity Violations in Gravitational Wave Observations
• Ergoregion instability and echoes for braneworld black holes: Scalar, electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations
• Constraints on Hořava gravity from binary black hole observations
• Towards establishing the presence or absence of horizons in coalescing binaries of compact objects by using their gravitational wave signals
• On the instability of ultracompact horizonless spacetimes
• Echoes from backreacting exotic compact objects
• Spectral lines of extreme compact objects
• Testing the nature of dark compact objects with gravitational waves
• Mixing of gravitational wave echoes
• Primordial gravastar from inflation
• Accretion onto a static spherically symmetric regular MOG dark compact object
• Probing regular MOG static spherically symmetric spacetime using greybody factors and quasinormal modes
• The Probability Distribution of Astrophysical Gravitational-Wave Background Fluctuations
• Testing gravity with Extreme-Mass-Ratio Inspirals
• Accretion onto a Charged Black Hole in Consistent 4D Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet Gravity
• Assessing the stability of ultracompact spinning boson stars with nonlinear evolutions
• Eccentricity matters: Impact of eccentricity on inferred binary black hole populations
• Gravitational Wave Perturbations on a Kerr Background and Applications for Echoes
• Formation and Stability of Area Quantized Black Holes
• Lower limit on the entropy of black holes as inferred from gravitational wave observations
• Efficient search method of anomalous reflection by the central object in an EMRI system by future space gravitational wave detectors
• Quasinormal Modes and Stability of Firewalls
• Frequency-Domain Distribution of Astrophysical Gravitational-Wave Backgrounds
• Accretion Process as a Probe of Extra Dimensions in MOG Compact Object Spacetimes
• Detectability of Massive Boson Stars using Gravitational Waves from Fundamental Oscillations
• Limits on the existence of totally reflective exotic compact objects with current and future gravitational-wave detectors
• Ergoregion instability in bosonic stars: scalar mode structure, universality, and weakly nonlinear effects
• Tests for the existence of horizon through gravitational waves from a small binary in the vicinity of a massive object
• Stochastic Evolution of Primordial Black Holes to near-extremality in EFTs of Gravity
• Nonlinear evolution of the ergoregion instability: Turbulence, bursts of radiation, and black hole formation
• Macroscopic backreaction of the trace anomaly on classical vacuum backgrounds