Inspiral into Gargantua
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
2016-09-21 v2 High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
High Energy Physics - Theory
Abstract
We model the inspiral of a compact object into a more massive black hole rotating very near the theoretical maximum. We find that once the body enters the near-horizon regime the gravitational radiation is characterized by a constant frequency, equal to (twice) the horizon frequency, with an exponentially damped profile. This contrasts with the usual "chirping" behavior and, if detected, would constitute a "smoking gun" for a near-extremal black hole in nature.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1603.01221,
title = {Inspiral into Gargantua},
author = {Samuel E. Gralla and Scott A. Hughes and Niels Warburton},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1603.01221},
year = {2016}
}
Comments
10 pages, 5 figures, updated to journal version