Identifying modified theories of gravity using binary black-hole ringdowns

Costantino Pacilio; Swetha Bhagwat

doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.107.083021

paper

Identifying modified theories of gravity using binary black-hole ringdowns

arXiv:2301.02267 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.107.083021

Abstract

Black-hole spectroscopy, that is, measuring the characteristic frequencies and damping times of different modes in a black-hole ringdown, is a powerful probe for testing deviations from the general theory of relativity (GR). In this work, we present a comprehensive study on its ability to identify deviations from the spectrum of a Kerr black hole in GR. Specifically, we investigate the performance of black hole spectroscopy on a diverse set of theoretically motivated as well as phenomenologically modified spectra. We find that while the signal-to-noise ratio $ρ_{RD}$ in the ringdown required to identify a modification to the GR Kerr black hole spectrum depends on the details of the modifications, a modification that introduces $\sim 1%$ shift in the fundamental mode frequencies can typically be distinguished with $ρ_{RD} \in [150, 500]$ . This range of $ρ_{RD}$ is feasible with the next-generation detectors, showing a promising science case for black hole spectroscopy.

arXiv commentv1: 14 pages, 4 figures. v2: matches published version

Identifying modified theories of gravity using binary black-hole ringdowns

Abstract

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