Abstract
How well is the vacuum Kerr geometry a good description of the dark, compact objects in our universe? Precision measurements of accreting matter in the deep infrared and gravitational-wave measurements of coalescing objects are finally providing answers to this question. Here, we study the possibility of resonant excitation of the modes of the central object -- taken to be very compact but horizonless -- during an extreme-mass-ratio inspiral. We show that for very compact objects resonances are indeed excited. However, the impact of such excitation on the phase of the gravitational-wave signal is negligible, since resonances are crossed very quickly during inspiral.
Highlights
A remarkable feature of classical general relativity is that vacuum spacetime can be curled to the extreme point of producing horizons, the boundaries of causally disconnected regions of spacetime that cloak singularities from faraway observers
We study the possibility of resonant excitation of the modes of a central object—taken to be very compact but horizonless—during an extrememass-ratio inspiral
Such an extraordinary property requires strong observational evidence for black holes (BHs), a quest that should be placed alongside tests of the equivalence principle
Summary
A remarkable feature of classical general relativity is that vacuum spacetime can be curled to the extreme point of producing horizons, the boundaries of causally disconnected regions of spacetime that cloak singularities from faraway observers. Such an extraordinary property requires strong observational evidence for black holes (BHs), a quest that should be placed alongside tests of the equivalence principle. The exterior is vacuum and described by the Schwarzschild geometry, down to the (hard) surface at r0 1⁄4 2Mð1 þ εÞ: ð1Þ We consider both a toy model where a particle coupled to a scalar field orbits the compact object and a more realistic extreme-mass-ratio inspiral driven by GW emission
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