GW150914 peak frequency: a novel consistency test of strong-field General Relativity

Gregorio Carullo; Gunnar Riemenschneider; Ka Wa Tsang; Alessandro Nagar; Walter Del Pozzo

doi:10.1088/1361-6382/ab185e

GW150914 peak frequency: a novel consistency test of strong-field General Relativity

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2019-05-03 v2

Authors: Gregorio Carullo , Gunnar Riemenschneider , Ka Wa Tsang , Alessandro Nagar , Walter Del Pozzo

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Abstract

We introduce a novel test of General Relativity in the strong-field regime of a binary black hole coalescence. Combining information coming from Numerical Relativity simulations of coalescing black hole binaries with a Bayesian reconstruction of the gravitational wave signal detected in LIGO-Virgo interferometric data, allows one to test theoretical predictions for the instantaneous gravitational wave frequency measured at the peak of the gravitational wave signal amplitude. We present the construction of such a test and apply it on the first gravitational wave event detected by the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations, GW150914. The $p$ -value obtained is $p=0.48$ , to be contrasted with an expected value of $p=0.5$ , so that no signs of violations from General Relativity were detected.

Keywords

general relativity test strong-field regime binary black hole coalescence gravitational wave numerical relativity bayesian reconstruction gw150914

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@article{arxiv.1811.08744,
  title  = {GW150914 peak frequency: a novel consistency test of strong-field General Relativity},
  author = {Gregorio Carullo and Gunnar Riemenschneider and Ka Wa Tsang and Alessandro Nagar and Walter Del Pozzo},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1811.08744},
  year   = {2019}
}

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7 pages, 2 figures

GW150914 peak frequency: a novel consistency test of strong-field General Relativity

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