Testing general relativity via direct measurement of black hole kicks

Abstract

Asymmetric emission of gravitational waves during a compact binary coalescence results in the loss of linear momentum and a corresponding "kick" or recoil on the binary's center of mass. This leads to a direction-dependent Doppler shift of the ringdown gravitational waveform. We quantify the measurability of the kick imparted to the remnant black hole in a binary black hole merger. Future ground- and space-based gravitational-wave detectors will measure this effect to within $\sim 2\%$ to $\sim 30\%$ for a subset of their expected observed sources. Certain binary configurations in the LISA band may allow a sub-percent-level measurement of this effect. This direct measurement of black hole kicks can also facilitate a novel test of general relativity based on linear momentum balance. We formulate this kick consistency test via measurement of a null variable that quantifies the difference between the inferred kick (using numerical relativity) and that observed via the Doppler-shifted ringdown signal. This null variable can be constrained (at 90\% confidence) to $\sim 10\%$ to $30\%$ with Cosmic Explorer and to $\sim 3\%$ to $12\%$ with LISA.

9 pages, 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Possible Causes of False General Relativity Violations in Gravitational Wave Observations
• Analysis of GWTC-3 with fully precessing numerical relativity surrogate models
• Spatial mixing of stellar populations in globular clusters via binary-single star scattering
• Effect of kick velocity on gravitational wave detection of binary black holes with space- and ground-based detectors
• Probing missing physics from inspiralling compact binaries via time-frequency tracks