Related papers: How well can ultracompact bodies imitate black hol…
The possible detection of echoes in late gravitational-wave signals is the most promising way to test horizonless alternatives to general relativistic black holes, and probe the physics of these hypothetical ultra-compact objects. While…
General relativity's no-hair theorem states that isolated astrophysical black holes are described by only two numbers: mass and spin. As a consequence, there are strict relationships between the frequency and damping time of the different…
Quasinormal modes of rapidly rotating black holes were recently computed in a generic effective-field-theory extension of general relativity with higher-derivative corrections. We exploit this breakthrough to perform the most complete…
It is possible to infer the mass and spin of the remnant black hole from binary black hole mergers by comparing the ringdown gravitational wave signal to results from studies of perturbed Kerr spacetimes. Typically these studies are based…
Gravitational-wave echoes in the post-merger ringdown phase are under intense scrutiny as probes of near-horizon quantum structures and as signatures of exotic states of matter in ultracompact stars. We present an analytical template that…
The LIGO/Virgo detections of binary black hole mergers marked a watershed moment in astronomy, ushering in the era of precision tests of Kerr dynamics. We review theoretical and experimental challenges that must be overcome to carry out…
Although the black holes are an integral part of the standard model of astrophysics and cosmology, their existence poses some serious fundamental problems. In recent years, several horizonless compact object models were proposed to address…
After black holes collide, the remnant settles to a stationary state by emitting gravitational waves. Once non-linearities subside, these ringdown waves are dominated by exponentially-damped sinusoids, or quasinormal modes. We develop a…
It is commonly believed that the ringdown signal from a binary coalescence provides a conclusive proof for the formation of an event horizon after the merger. This expectation is based on the assumption that the ringdown waveform at…
Motivated by a recently discovered connection between the greybody factors of black holes and the ringdown signal, we investigate the greybody factors of ultracompact horizonless objects, also elucidating their connection to echoes. The…
The spectrum of the quasinormal modes of the gravitational waves emitted during the ringdown phase following the merger of two black holes is of primary importance in gravitational astronomy. However, the spectrum is extremely sensitive to…
Quantum nature of black hole horizons has been a subject of recent interest and scrutiny. In particular, a near-horizon quantum violation of the equivalence principle has been proposed as a resolution of the black hole information paradox.…
Ultracompact objects with photonspheres are known to mimic many observational features of black holes. It has been suggested that anomalous tidal heating or the presence of resonances in gravitational wave signals would be a clear imprint…
We study the ringdown signal of black holes formed in prompt-collapse binary neutron star mergers. We analyze data from $47$ numerical relativity simulations. We show that the $(\ell=2,m=2)$ and $(\ell=2,m=1)$ multipoles of the…
Gravitational waves from binary coalescences provide one of the cleanest signatures of the nature of compact objects. It has been recently argued that the post-merger ringdown waveform of exotic ultracompact objects is initially identical…
Ringdown gravitational waves of compact binary mergers are an important target to test general relativity. The main components of the ringdown waveform after merger are black hole quasinormal modes. In general relativity, all multipolar…
Merging binary black holes exhibit a ringdown phase in which they primarily emit gravitational waves in the shape of damped sinusoids corresponding to quasi-normal modes of the Kerr remnant. In general, each mode carries four degrees of…
It is now possible to theoretically calculate the gravitational-wave signal from the inspiral, merger and ringdown of a black-hole-binary system. The late inspiral, merger and ringdown can be calculated in full general relativity using…
We characterize and phenomenologically model the merger-ringdown of gravitational waves emitted by a small compact object that plunges and merges into a Kerr black hole from equatorial-eccentric inspirals. The waveforms are generated…
We use numerical relativity to study the merger and ringdown stages of "superkick" binary black hole systems (those with equal mass and anti-parallel spins). We find a universal way to describe the mass and current quadrupole gravitational…