Tests of general relativity in the nonlinear regime: a parametrized plunge-merger-ringdown gravitational waveform model
arXiv:2212.09655 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.108.024043
Abstract
The plunge-merger stage of the binary-black hole coalescence, when the bodies' velocities reach a large fraction of the speed of light and the gravitational-wave luminosity peaks, provides a unique opportunity to probe gravity in the dynamical and nonlinear regime. How much do the predictions of general relativity differ from the ones in other theories of gravity for this stage of the binary evolution? To address this question, we develop a parametrized waveform model, within the effective-one-body formalism, that allows for deviations from general relativity in the plunge-merger-ringdown stage. As first step, we focus on nonprecessing-spin, quasicircular black hole binaries. In comparison to previous works, for each gravitational wave mode, our model can modify, with respect to general-relativistic predictions, the instant at which the amplitude peaks, the instantaneous frequency at this time instant, and the value of the peak amplitude. We use this waveform model to explore several questions considering both synthetic-data injections and two gravitational wave signals. In particular, we find that deviations from the peak gravitational wave amplitude and instantaneous frequency can be constrained to about with GW150914. Alarmingly, we find that GW200129_065458 shows a strong violation of general relativity. We interpret this result as a false violation, either due to waveform systematics (mismodeling of spin precession) or due to data-quality issues depending on one's interpretation of this event. This illustrates the use of parametrized waveform models as tools to investigate systematic errors in plain general relativity. The results with GW200129_065458 also vividly demonstrate the importance of waveform systematics and of glitch mitigation procedures when interpreting tests of general relativity with current gravitational wave observations.
17+4 pages, 16 figures. v3: matches published version
References in corpus (61)
- GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
- Advanced Virgo: a 2nd generation interferometric gravitational wave detector
- The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
- Advanced LIGO
- GWTC-2: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the First Half of the Third Observing Run
- First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Physical Origin of the Asymmetric Ring
- Tests of the Gravitational Inverse-Square Law below the Dark-Energy Length Scale
- Robust parameter estimation for compact binaries with ground-based gravitational-wave observations using the LALInference software library
- Tests of General Relativity with Binary Black Holes from the second LIGO-Virgo Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog
- Observation of gravitational waves from two neutron star-black hole coalescences
- First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. VI: Testing the Black Hole Metric
- An improved effective-one-body model of spinning, nonprecessing binary black holes for the era of gravitational-wave astrophysics with advanced detectors
- Computationally efficient models for the dominant and sub-dominant harmonic modes of precessing binary black holes
- Detection of the Schwarzschild precession in the orbit of the star S2 near the Galactic centre massive black hole
- Bayesian inference for compact binary coalescences with BILBY: Validation and application to the first LIGO--Virgo gravitational-wave transient catalogue
- Multipolar Effective-One-Body Waveforms for Precessing Binary Black Holes: Construction and Validation
- Toward faithful templates for non-spinning binary black holes using the effective-one-body approach
- Strong-field Gravity Tests with the Double Pulsar
- New Test of the Gravitational Law at Separations down to 52 m
- Faithful Effective-One-Body waveforms of small-mass-ratio coalescing black-hole binaries
- Effective-one-body waveforms calibrated to numerical relativity simulations: coalescence of non-spinning, equal-mass black holes
- Observational Black Hole Spectroscopy: A time-domain multimode analysis of GW150914
- Improved effective-one-body description of coalescing nonspinning black-hole binaries and its numerical-relativity completion
- A data-analysis driven comparison of analytic and numerical coalescing binary waveforms: nonspinning case
- Probing the non-linear structure of general relativity with black hole binaries
- High-accuracy numerical simulation of black-hole binaries: Computation of the gravitational-wave energy flux and comparisons with post-Newtonian approximants
- A multipolar effective one body waveform model for spin-aligned black hole binaries
- Testing the no-hair theorem with black hole ringdowns using TIGER
- Effective-one-body multipolar waveforms for eccentric binary black holes with non-precessing spins
- Dynamics of spontaneous black hole scalarization and mergers in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity
- Evolution of Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity using a modified harmonic formulation
- Numerical relativity simulation of GW150914 in Einstein dilaton Gauss-Bonnet gravity
- Parameter estimation of spinning binary inspirals using Markov-chain Monte Carlo
- General-relativistic precession in a black-hole binary
- Dynamical descalarization in binary black hole mergers
- Constraints on quasi-normal-mode frequencies with LIGO-Virgo binary-black-hole observations
- Effective-one-body waveforms for precessing coalescing compact binaries with post-newtonian Twist
- The curious case of GW200129: interplay between spin-precession inference and data-quality issues
- A Parameter Estimation Method that Directly Compares Gravitational Wave Observations to Numerical Relativity
- Tests of General Relativity with Gravitational-Wave Observations using a Flexible--Theory-Independent Method
- Small mass plunging into a Kerr black hole: Anatomy of the inspiral-merger-ringdown waveforms
- Black-hole ringdown as a probe of higher-curvature gravity theories
- Nonlinear studies of binary black hole mergers in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity
- Accelerating parameter inference with graphics processing units
- Constraining gravitational wave amplitude birefringence and Chern-Simons gravity with GWTC-2
- Systematic bias on parameterized tests of general relativity due to neglect of orbital eccentricity
- Spin-induced dynamical scalarization, de-scalarization and stealthness in scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity during black hole coalescence
- Tests of Gravitational-Wave Birefringence with the Open Gravitational-Wave Catalog
- Well-posedness of the four-derivative scalar-tensor theory of gravity in singularity avoiding coordinates
- Systematic bias on the inspiral-merger-ringdown consistency test due to neglect of orbital eccentricity
- Black Hole Binaries in Cubic Horndeski Theories
- Parametrized tests of post-Newtonian theory using principal component analysis
- Dynamical descalarization with a jump during black hole merger
- Search for anisotropic, birefringent spacetime-symmetry breaking in gravitational wave propagation from GWTC-3
- Investigating the relation between gravitational wave tests of general relativity
- Investigation of the effects of non-Gaussian noise transients and their mitigation in parameterized gravitational-wave tests of general relativity
- Fast post-adiabatic waveforms in the time domain: Applications to compact binary coalescences in LIGO and Virgo
- Gravitational wave inference on a numerical-relativity simulation of a black hole merger beyond general relativity
- Population inference of spin-induced quadrupole moments as a probe for non-black hole compact binaries
- Merger-Ringdown Consistency: A New Test of Strong Gravity using Deep Learning
- Arrival Times of Gravitational Radiation Peaks for Binary Inspiral
Cited by in corpus (31)
- SEOBNRv5PHM: Next generation of accurate and efficient multipolar precessing-spin effective-one-body waveforms for binary black holes
- Laying the foundation of the effective-one-body waveform models SEOBNRv5: improved accuracy and efficiency for spinning non-precessing binary black holes
- Agnostic black hole spectroscopy: Quasinormal mode content of numerical relativity waveforms and limits of validity of linear perturbation theory
- The Science of the Einstein Telescope
- Possible Causes of False General Relativity Violations in Gravitational Wave Observations
- Ringdown of a dynamical spacetime
- Evidence for eccentricity in the population of binary black holes observed by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA
- Searching for ringdown higher modes with a numerical relativity-informed post-merger model
- Inspiral-merger-ringdown waveforms in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity within the effective-one-body formalism
- Systematic Biases in Estimating the Properties of Black Holes Due to Inaccurate Gravitational-Wave Models
- Systematic biases due to waveform mismodeling in parametrized post-Einsteinian tests of general relativity: The impact of neglecting spin precession and higher modes
- Eccentric or circular? A reanalysis of binary black hole gravitational wave events for orbital eccentricity signatures
- Parametrized spin-precessing inspiral-merger-ringdown waveform model for tests of general relativity
- Linear vs. nonlinear modeling of black hole ringdowns
- GRFolres: A code for modified gravity simulations in strong gravity
- Quasinormal modes of slowly-spinning horizonless compact objects
- Accounting for numerical-relativity calibration uncertainty in gravitational-wave modeling and inference
- Improved parametrized test of general relativity using the IMRPhenomX waveform family: Including higher harmonics and precession
- Confronting general relativity with principal component analysis: Simulations and results from GWTC-3 events
- Tests of General Relativity with GW230529: a neutron star merging with a lower mass-gap compact object
- Catalog variance of testing general relativity with gravitational-wave data
- Theory-agnostic searches for non-gravitational modes in black hole ringdown
- GW230814: investigation of a loud gravitational-wave signal observed with a single detector
- Quasi-normal modes of slowly-rotating Johannsen black holes
- Testing modified gravity with the eccentric neutron star--black hole merger GW200105
- A Parametrized Test of General Relativity for LISA Massive Black Hole Binary Inspirals
- Testing general relativity with gravitational waves -- improving and extending Modified Dispersion Relation tests
- Neutron stars as extreme gravity probes
- Plunge-Merger-Ringdown Tests of General Relativity with GW250114
- Improved Constraints on Non-Kerr Deviations from Binary Black Hole Inspirals Using GWTC-4 Data
- Probing missing physics from inspiralling compact binaries via time-frequency tracks