Not quite black holes at LIGO

Abstract

We provide more evidence of not quite black holes at LIGO. We update and streamline our previous search strategy and apply it to the ten black hole merger events and the one neutron star merger event. The strategy is aimed at the evenly spaced resonance spectrum expected from not quite black holes, given that at low frequencies the radial wave equation describes the modes of a stretched 1D cavity. We describe various indications of the self-consistency of the apparent signals across all events in the context of a simple theoretical model. The merger with the largest final mass, spin and redshift, GW170729, provides additional interesting support.

20 pages, 16 figures, published version

References in corpus (5)

• Echoes of ECOs: gravitational-wave signatures of exotic compact objects and of quantum corrections at the horizon scale
• Tests for the existence of horizons through gravitational wave echoes
• The LIGO Open Science Center
• A ghost and a naked singularity; facing our demons
• Gravitational Wave Perturbations on a Kerr Background and Applications for Echoes

Cited by in corpus (22)

• Echoes from the braneworld black holes
• Ergoregion instability and echoes for braneworld black holes: Scalar, electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations
• GW190521: Search for Echoes due to Stimulated Hawking Radiation from Black Holes
• How loud are echoes from exotic compact objects?
• Towards establishing the presence or absence of horizons in coalescing binaries of compact objects by using their gravitational wave signals
• A non-Perturbative and Background-Independent Formulation of Quadratic Gravity
• Ringdown of Charged Compact Objects using Membrane Paradigm
• Gravitational wave echoes from interacting quark stars
• Rescaling strange-cluster stars and its implications on gravitational-wave echoes
• Nomen non est omen: Why it is too soon to identify ultra-compact objects as black holes
• Can the abyss swallow gravitational waves or why we do not observe echoes?
• Scale-invariance at the core of quantum black holes
• Gravitational wave echoes search with combs
• Damping of gravitational waves in 2-2-holes
• Unruh-DeWitt Detector Differentiation of Black Holes and Exotic Compact Objects
• Echoes in the Kerr/CFT correspondence
• Model-independent search for the quasinormal modes of gravitational wave echoes
• Dust collapse and horizon formation in Quadratic Gravity
• Conformal Cores of Quantum Black Holes in Quadratic Gravity
• Firewall black holes and echoes from an action principle
• Black holes and their horizons in semiclassical and modified theories of gravity
• Model-agnostic search of gravitational wave echoes in LVK data