Related papers: Exploring the no-hair theorem with LISA
This is a whitepaper submitted to the 2010 Astronomy Decadal Review process, addressing the potential tests of gravity theory that could be made by observations of gravitational waves in the milliHertz frequency band by the proposed…
LISA may make it possible to test the black-hole uniqueness theorems of general relativity, also called the no-hair theorems, by Ryan's method of detecting the quadrupole moment of a black hole using high-mass-ratio inspirals. This test can…
Extreme-mass-ratio-inspiral observations from future space-based gravitational-wave detectors such as LISA will enable strong-field tests of general relativity with unprecedented precision, but at prohibitive computational cost if existing…
General relativity has been tested by many experiments, which, however, almost exclusively probe weak spacetime curvatures. In this thesis, I create two frameworks for testing general relativity in the strong-field regime with observations…
Deviations from General Relativity can alter the quasi-normal mode (QNM) ringdown of perturbed black holes. It is known that a shift-symmetric (hence massless) scalar can only introduce black hole hair if it couples to the Gauss-Bonnet…
Among the expected sources of gravitational waves for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is the capture of solar-mass compact stars by massive black holes residing in galactic centers. We construct a simple model for such a…
One of the consequences of the black-hole "no-hair" theorem in general relativity (GR) is that gravitational radiation (quasi-normal modes) from a perturbed Kerr black hole is uniquely determined by its mass and spin. Thus, the spectrum of…
Motivated by the first detection of gravitational waves, this dissertation develops analytical, numerical, and data analysis techniques to address persistent blind spots in our understanding of gravity. Beginning with asymptotically flat…
We conduct an analysis of the measurement abilities of distinctive LISA detector designs, examining the influence of LISA's low-frequency performance on the detection and characterization of massive black hole binaries. We are particularly…
Perturbed Kerr black holes emit gravitational radiation, which (for the practical purposes of gravitational-wave astronomy) consists of a superposition of damped sinusoids termed quasi-normal modes. The frequencies and time-constants of the…
In this paper we quantify the ability of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) to test the presence of non-tensorial polarizations as well as modifications to the tensor ones in gravitational waves emitted from massive black hole…
The detection of gravitational waves from the inspiral of a neutron star or stellar-mass black hole into an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) promises an entirely new look at strong-field gravitational physics. Gravitational waves from…
We analyze gravitational-wave data from the first LIGO detection of a binary black-hole merger (GW150914) in search of the ringdown of the remnant black hole. Using observations beginning at the peak of the signal, we find evidence of the…
Observations of binary inspirals with LISA will allow us to place bounds on alternative theories of gravity and to study the merger history of massive black holes (MBH). These possibilities rely on LISA's parameter estimation accuracy. We…
We present the first fully relativistic study of gravitational radiation from bodies in circular equatorial orbits around the massive black hole at the Galactic Center, Sgr A* and we assess the detectability of various kinds of objects by…
Gravitational wave (GW) astronomy has revolutionized our capacity to explore nature. The next generation of observatories, among which the space-borne detector Laser Interferometer Space Antenna LISA, is expected to yield orders of…
The no-hair theorem characterizes the fundamental nature of black holes in general relativity. This theorem can be tested observationally by measuring the mass and spin of a black hole as well as its quadrupole moment, which may deviate…
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is designed to detect a variety of gravitational-wave events, including mergers of massive black hole binaries, stellar-mass black hole inspirals, and extreme mass-ratio inspirals. LISA's…
We present a complete pipeline for detecting and characterizing gravitational waves (GWs) produced by the inspiral of stellar-mass binary black holes in data from the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The analysis framework relies…
Despite its success in the weak gravity regime, General Relativity (GR) has yet to be verified in the regime of strong gravity. In this paper, we present the results of detailed ray tracing simulations aiming at clarifying if the combined…