Plunge-Merger-Ringdown Tests of General Relativity with GW250114

Abstract

The binary black hole signal GW250114, the clearest gravitational wave detected to date, offers a unique opportunity to test general relativity in the relativistic strong-gravity regime. How well does GW250114 agree with Einstein's predictions in the plunge-merger-ringdown stage? To address this point, we constrain deviations from general relativity across the plunge-merger-ringdown stage of spin-precessing binaries with a parametrized waveform model within the effective-one-body formalism. We find that deviations from the peak gravitational-wave amplitude and instantaneous frequency of the $(\ell ,|m|)=(2,2)$ mode are constrained to about $10\%$ and $4\%$, respectively, at $90\%$ credible level. These constraints are, respectively, two and four times more stringent than those obtained by analyzing GW150914. We also constrain, for the first time, the instantaneous frequency of the $(\ell ,|m|)=(4,4)$ mode at merger to about $6\%$, and the time at which the gravitational-wave amplitude peaks to about $5\mathrm{ms}$. These results are the most precise tests of general relativity in the nonlinear regime to date, and can be employed to constrain extensions of Einsten's theory.

9 + 5 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (39)

• Advanced Virgo: a 2nd generation interferometric gravitational wave detector
• Advanced LIGO
• Faithful Effective-One-Body waveforms of small-mass-ratio coalescing black-hole binaries
• Spin Flips and Precession in Black-Hole-Binary Mergers
• Hierarchical data-driven approach to fitting numerical relativity data for nonprecessing binary black holes with an application to final spin and radiated energy
• Observational Black Hole Spectroscopy: A time-domain multimode analysis of GW150914
• 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
• Dynamics of spontaneous black hole scalarization and mergers in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity
• Tests of General Relativity with GWTC-3
• Evolution of Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity using a modified harmonic formulation
• Constraints on quasi-normal-mode frequencies with LIGO-Virgo binary-black-hole observations
• GW250114: testing Hawking's area law and the Kerr nature of black holes
• Tests of General Relativity with Gravitational-Wave Observations using a Flexible--Theory-Independent Method
• Enhancing the SEOBNRv5 effective-one-body waveform model with second-order gravitational self-force fluxes
• PhenomXO4a: a phenomenological gravitational-wave model for precessing black-hole binaries with higher multipoles and asymmetries
• Black-hole ringdown as a probe of higher-curvature gravity theories
• Nonlinear studies of binary black hole mergers in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity
• Systematic bias on parameterized tests of general relativity due to neglect of orbital eccentricity
• Accurate waveforms for eccentric, aligned-spin binary black holes: The multipolar effective-one-body model SEOBNRv5EHM
• Possible Causes of False General Relativity Violations in Gravitational Wave Observations
• Well-posedness of the four-derivative scalar-tensor theory of gravity in singularity avoiding coordinates
• Using rational filters to uncover the first ringdown overtone in GW150914
• Tests of general relativity in the nonlinear regime: a parametrized plunge-merger-ringdown gravitational waveform model
• Accumulating errors in tests of general relativity with gravitational waves: overlapping signals and inaccurate waveforms
• 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
• 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
• Ringdown frequencies in black holes formed from precessing black-hole binaries
• Gravitational-Wave Data Analysis with High-Precision Numerical Relativity Simulations of Boson Star mergers
• A study of the Inspiral-Merger-Ringdown Consistency Test with gravitational-wave signals from compact binaries in eccentric orbits
• Parametrized spin-precessing inspiral-merger-ringdown waveform model for tests of general relativity
• Scalarization of isolated black holes in scalar Gauss-Bonnet theory in the fixing-the-equations approach
• Solving the initial conditions problem for modified gravity theories
• Modeling Compact Binary Merger Waveforms Beyond General Relativity
• 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