Probing the ringdown perturbation in binary black hole coalescences with an improved quasinormal mode extraction algorithm

The detection of gravitational waves resulting from the coalescence of binary black holes by the LIGO-Virgo-Kagra Collaboration has inaugurated a new era in gravitational physics. These gravitational waves provide a unique opportunity to test Einstein’s general relativity and its modifications in the regime of extreme gravity. A significant aspect of such tests involves the study of the ringdown phase of gravitational waves from binary black hole coalescence, which can be decomposed into a superposition of various quasinormal modes. In general relativity, the spectra of quasinormal modes depend on the mass, spin, and charge of the final black hole, but they can also be influenced by additional properties of the black hole spacetime, as well as corrections to the general theory of relativity. In this work, we focus on a specific modified theory known as dynamical Chern-Simons gravity. We employ the modified Teukolsky formalism developed in a previous study and lay down the foundations to investigate perturbations of slowly rotating black holes admitted by the theory. Specifically, we derive the master equations for the Ψ0 and Ψ4 Weyl scalar perturbations that characterize the radiative part of gravitational perturbations, as well as the master equation for the scalar field perturbations. We employ metric reconstruction techniques to obtain explicit expressions for all relevant quantities. Finally, by leveraging the properties of spin-weighted spheroidal harmonics to eliminate the angular dependence from the evolution equations, we derive two, radial, second-order, ordinary differential equations for Ψ0 and Ψ4, respectively. These two equations are coupled to another radial, second-order, ordinary differential equation for the scalar field perturbations. This work is the first attempt to derive a master equation for black holes in dynamical Chern-Simons gravity using curvature perturbations. The master equations we obtain can then be numerically integrated to obtain the quasinormal mode spectrum of slowly rotating black holes in this theory, making progress in the study of ringdown in dynamical Chern-Simons gravity. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Recent population synthesis simulations of Pop III stars suggest that the event rate of coalescence of $\sim 30M_\odot$--$30M_\odot$ binary black holes can be high enough for the detection by the second generation gravitational wave detectors. The frequencies of chirp signal as well as quasinormal modes are near the best sensitivity of these detectors so that it would be possible to confirm Einstein's general relativity. Using the WKB method, we suggest that for the typical value of spin parameter $a/M\sim 0.7$ from numerical relativity results of the coalescence of binary black holes, the strong gravity of the black hole space-time at around the radius $2M$, which is just $\sim 1.17$ times the event horizon radius, would be confirmed as predicted by general relativity. The expected event rate with the signal-to-noise ratio $> 35$ needed for the determination of the quasinormal mode frequency with the meaningful accuracy is $0.17$--$7.2$~${\rm events~yr^{-1}~(SFR_p/(10^{-2.5}~M_\odot~yr^{-1}~Mpc^{-3}))} \cdot (\rm [f_b/(1+f_b)]/0.33)$ where ${\rm SFR_p}$ and ${\rm f_b}$ are the peak value of the Pop III star formation rate and the fraction of binaries, respectively. As for the possible optical counter part, if the merged black hole of mass $M\sim 60M_\odot$ is in the interstellar matter with $n\sim 100~{\rm cm^{-3}}$ and the proper motion of black hole is $\sim 1~{\rm km~s^{-1}}$, the luminosity is $\sim 10^{40}~{\rm erg~ s^{-1}}$ which can be detected up to $\sim 300~{\rm Mpc}$, for example, by Subaru-HSC and LSST with the limiting magnitude 26.

During the binary black hole coalescence, gravitational waves emitted at the ringdown stage can be well described by black hole perturbation theory, where the quasinormal modes (QNMs) become the important ingredient in modeling the pattern waveform. In general relativity (GR), the QNMs can be obtained from solving the Regge–Wheeler (RW) equation of a non-rotating black hole. While in Horndeski gravity, the isospectrality between the odd and even parity perturbations is broken due to the scalar field, the odd perturbation equation can be simplified into a modified RW equation from the perturbed action. In this paper, we propose a new auxiliary field and tortoise coordinate to refine the modified RW equation in Horndeski gravity, and calculate the QNM frequencies of the odd perturbation of a specific hairy black hole. We find that this proposal not only cures the superluminal propagation addressed in the previous literature, but also holds the original QNM spectrum of the odd perturbation. Moreover, our results indicate that such a Horndeski hairy black hole is stable under the odd perturbation, which is also verified by the time evolution of the perturbation. In particular, in contrast to GR, the modes with ℓ=2 can decay faster than modes with ℓ>22$$\\end{document}]]> for a certain range of the Horndeski hair, and the link between the null geodesics and QNM for the odd perturbation in the current theory is violated. We then use the ringdown QNMs to preliminarily investigate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) rescaled measurement error of the Horndeski hair. We obtain significant effects of the angular momentum and overtone on the error bound of the hair parameter. We hope that our findings will inspire further theoretical and phenomenological work on the testing of the no-hair theorem of black holes using gravitational wave physics.

Numerical-relativity simulations of black-hole binaries and advancements in gravitational-wave detectors now make it possible to learn more about the collisions of compact astrophysical bodies. To be able to infer more about the dynamical behavior of these objects requires a fuller analysis of the connection between the dynamics of pairs of black holes and their emitted gravitational waves. The chapters of this thesis describe three approaches to learn more about the relationship between the dynamics of black-hole binaries and their gravitational waves: modeling momentum flow in binaries with the Landau-Lifshitz formalism, approximating binary dynamics near the time of merger with post-Newtonian and black-hole-perturbation theories, and visualizing spacetime curvature with tidal tendexes and frame-drag vortexes. In Chapters 2--4, my collaborators and I present a method to quantify the flow of momentum in black-hole binaries using the Landau-Lifshitz formalism. Chapter 2 reviews an intuitive version of the formalism in the first-post-Newtonian approximation that bears a strong resemblance to Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism. Chapter 3 applies this approximation to relate the simultaneous bobbing motion of rotating black holes in the superkick configuration---equal-mass black holes with their spins anti-aligned and in the orbital plane---to the flow of momentum in the spacetime, prior to the black holes’ merger. Chapter 4 then uses the Landau-Lifshitz formalism to explain the dynamics of a head-on merger of spinning black holes, whose spins are anti-aligned and transverse to the infalling motion. Before they merge, the black holes move with a large, transverse, velocity, which we can explain using the post-Newtonian approximation; as the holes merge and form a single black hole, we can use the Landau-Lifshitz formalism without any approximations to connect the slowing of the final black hole to its absorbing momentum density during the merger. In Chapters 5--7, we discuss using analytical approximations, such as post-Newtonian and black-hole-perturbation theories, to gain further understanding into how gravitational waves are generated by black-hole binaries. Chapter 5 presents a way of combining post-Newtonian and black-hole-perturbation theories---which we call the hybrid method---for head-on mergers of black holes. It was able to produce gravitational waveforms and gravitational recoils that agreed well with comparable results from numerical-relativity simulations. Chapter 6 discusses a development of the hybrid model to include a radiation-reaction force, which is better suited for studying inspiralling black-hole binaries. The gravitational waveform from the hybrid method for inspiralling mergers agreed qualitatively with that from numerical-relativity simulations; when applied to the superkick configuration, it gave a simplified picture of the formation of the large black-hole kick. Chapter 7 describes an approximate method of calculating the frequencies of the ringdown gravitational waveforms of rotating black holes (quasinormal modes). The method generalizes a geometric interpretation of black-hole quasinormal modes and explains a degeneracy in the spectrum of these modes. In Chapters 8--11, we describe a new way of visualizing spacetime curvature using tools called tidal tendexes and frame-drag vortexes. This relies upon a time-space split of spacetime, which allows one to break the vacuum Riemann curvature tensor into electric and magnetic parts (symmetric, trace-free tensors that have simple physical interpretations). The regions where the eigenvalues of these tensors are large form the tendexes and vortexes of a spacetime, and the integral curves of their eigenvectors are its tendex and vortex lines, for the electric and magnetic parts, respectively. Chapter 8 provides an overview of these visualization tools and presents initial results from numerical-relativity simulations. Chapter 9 uses topological properties of vortex and tendex lines to classify properties of gravitational waves far from a source. Chapter 10 describes the formalism in more detail, and discusses the vortexes and tendexes of multipolar spacetimes in linearized gravity about flat space. The chapter helps to explain how near-zone vortexes and tendexes become gravitational waves far from a weakly gravitating, time-varying source. Chapter 11 is a detailed investigation of the vortexes and tendexes of stationary and perturbed black holes. It develops insight into how perturbations of (strongly gravitating) black holes extend from near the horizon to become gravitational waves.

Gravitational waveforms from the inspiral and ring-down stages of the binary black hole coalescences can be modelled accurately by approximation/perturbation techniques in general relativity. Recent progress in numerical relativity has enabled us to model also the non-perturbative merger phase of the binary black-hole coalescence problem. This enables us to \emph{coherently} search for all three stages of the coalescence of non-spinning binary black holes using a single template bank. Taking our motivation from these results, we propose a family of template waveforms which can model the inspiral, merger, and ring-down stages of the coalescence of non-spinning binary black holes that follow quasi-circular inspiral. This two-dimensional template family is explicitly parametrized by the physical parameters of the binary. We show that the template family is not only \emph{effectual} in detecting the signals from black hole coalescences, but also \emph{faithful} in estimating the parameters of the binary. We compare the sensitivity of a search (in the context of different ground-based interferometers) using all three stages of the black hole coalescence with other template-based searches which look for individual stages separately. We find that the proposed search is significantly more sensitive than other template-based searches for a substantial mass-range, potentially bringing about remarkable improvement in the event-rate of ground-based interferometers. As part of this work, we also prescribe a general procedure to construct interpolated template banks using non-spinning black hole waveforms produced by numerical relativity.

Numerical relativity is an essential tool in studying the coalescence of binary black holes (BBHs). It is still computationally prohibitive to cover the BBH parameter space exhaustively, making phenomenological fitting formulas for BBH waveforms and final-state properties important for practical applications. We describe a general hierarchical bottom-up fitting methodology to design and calibrate fits to numerical relativity simulations for the three-dimensional parameter space of quasicircular nonprecessing merging BBHs, spanned by mass ratio and by the individual spin components orthogonal to the orbital plane. Particular attention is paid to incorporating the extreme-mass-ratio limit and to the subdominant unequal-spin effects. As an illustration of the method, we provide two applications, to the final spin and final mass (or equivalently: radiated energy) of the remnant black hole. Fitting to 427 numerical relativity simulations, we obtain results broadly consistent with previously published fits, but improving in overall accuracy and particularly in the approach to extremal limits and for unequal-spin configurations. We also discuss the importance of data quality studies when combining simulations from diverse sources, how detailed error budgets will be necessary for further improvements of these already highly accurate fits, and how this first detailed study of unequal-spin effects helps in choosing the most informative parameters for future numerical relativity runs.

We discuss the extraction of information from detected binary black hole (BBH) coalescence gravitational waves by the ground-based interferometers LIGO and VIRGO, and by the space-based interferometer LISA. We focus on the merger phase that occurs after the gradual inspiral and before the ringdown. Our results are (i) if numerical relativity simulations have not produced template merger waveforms before BBH events are detected, one can study the merger waves using simple band-pass filters. For BBHs smaller than about ${40M}_{\ensuremath{\bigodot}}$ detected via their inspiral waves, the band-pass filtering signal-to-noise ratio indicates that the merger waves should typically be just barely visible in the noise for initial and advanced LIGO interferometers. (ii) We derive an optimized maximum-likelihood method for extracting a best-fit merger waveform from the noisy detector output; one ``perpendicularly projects'' this output onto a function space (specified using wavelets) that incorporates our (possibly sketchy) prior knowledge of the waveforms. An extension of the method allows one to extract the BBH's two independent waveforms from outputs of several interferometers. (iii) We propose a computational strategy for numerical relativists to pursue, if they successfully produce computer codes for generating merger waveforms, but if running the codes is too expensive to permit an extensive survey of the merger parameter space. In this case, for LIGO-VIRGO data analysis purposes, it would be advantageous to do a coarse survey of the parameter space aimed at exploring several qualitative issues and at determining the ranges of the several key parameters which we describe. (iv) A complete set of templates could be used to test the nonlinear dynamics of general relativity and to measure some of the binary's parameters via matched filtering. We estimate the number of bits of information obtainable from the merger waves (about 10--60 for LIGO-VIRGO, up to 200 for LISA), estimate the information loss due to template numerical errors or sparseness in the template grid, and infer approximate requirements on template accuracy and spacing.

Black Holes, Cosmology and Extra Dimensions

This thesis covers a range of topics in numerical and analytical relativity, centered around introducing tools and methodologies for the study of dynamical spacetimes. The scope of the studies is limited to classical (as opposed to quantum) vacuum spacetimes described by Einstein's general theory of relativity. The numerical works presented here are carried out within the Spectral Einstein Code (SpEC) infrastructure, while analytical calculations extensively utilize Wolfram's Mathematica program. We begin by examining highly dynamical spacetimes such as binary black hole mergers, which can be investigated using numerical simulations. However, there are difficulties in interpreting the output of such simulations. One difficulty stems from the lack of a canonical coordinate system (henceforth referred to as gauge freedom) and tetrad, against which quantities such as Newman-Penrose Psi_4 (usually interpreted as the gravitational wave part of curvature) should be measured. We tackle this problem in Chapter 2 by introducing a set of geometrically motivated coordinates that are independent of the simulation gauge choice, as well as a quasi-Kinnersley tetrad, also invariant under gauge changes in addition to being optimally suited to the task of gravitational wave extraction. Another difficulty arises from the need to condense the overwhelming amount of data generated by the numerical simulations. In order to extract physical information in a succinct and transparent manner, one may define a version of gravitational field lines and field strength using spatial projections of the Weyl curvature tensor. Introduction, investigation and utilization of these quantities will constitute the main content in Chapters 3 through 6. For the last two chapters, we turn to the analytical study of a simpler dynamical spacetime, namely a perturbed Kerr black hole. We will introduce in Chapter 7 a new analytical approximation to the quasi-normal mode (QNM) frequencies, and relate various properties of these modes to wave packets traveling on unstable photon orbits around the black hole. In Chapter 8, we study a bifurcation in the QNM spectrum as the spin of the black hole a approaches extremality.

Extraction of multiple quasinormal modes (QNMs) from ringdown gravitational waves emitted from a binary black hole coalescence is a touchstone to test whether a remnant black hole is described by the Kerr spacetime in general relativity. However, it is not straightforward to check the consistency between the ringdown signal and the QNM frequencies predicted by the linear perturbation theory. While the longest-lived mode can be extracted in a stable manner, the higher overtones damp more quickly and hence the fitting of overtones tends to end up with the overfit. To improve the extraction of overtones, we propose an iterative procedure consisting of fitting and subtraction of the longest-lived mode of the ringdown waveform in the time domain. Through the analyses of the mock waveform and numerical relativity waveform, we clarify that the iterative procedure allows us to extract the overtones in a more stable manner.

In this thesis, I present a number of studies intended to improve our understanding of black holes using gravitational waves. Although black holes are relatively well understood from a theory perspective, many questions remain about the nature of the black holes in our Universe. According to general relativity, astrophysical black holes are fully described by just their mass and spin. Yet, relying on electromagnetic-based observatories alone, we still know very little about the distribution of black hole masses or spins. Moreover, as merging black holes are invisible to these electromagnetic observatories, we cannot rely on them to provide us with information about the binary black hole merger rate or binary black hole formation channels. However, by observing gravitational wave signals from these inherently dark binaries, we will soon have some answers to these questions. Indeed, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has already revealed a great deal of new information about binary black holes; giving us an early glimpse into their mass and spin distributions and placing the first constraints on the binary black hole merger rate. This thesis contributes to the goal of probing the nature of black holes with gravitational waves. Binary black holes can form as an isolated binary in the galactic field or through dynamical encounters in high-density environments. Dynamical formation can significantly alter the binary parameters, which then become imprinted on the gravitational waveform. By simulating varying black hole populations in high-density globular clusters, we identify a population of highly eccentric binary black hole mergers that are characteristic of dynamical formation. Although these systems would circularize by the time they are visible in LIGO's frequency band, the future Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is capable of distinguishing this population of eccentric mergers from the circular mergers expected of isolated field-formed binaries. As these dynamically formed binaries depend on the size of the underlying black hole population in globular clusters, we can utilize the dynamically formed merger rate to infer globular cluster black hole populations -- allowing us to reveal information about binary black hole birth environments. In order to properly estimate the parameters of binary black holes from detected gravitational wave signals, such as their masses and spins, high-accuracy waveforms are a needed. The highest accuracy waveforms are those produced by numerical relativity simulations, which solve the full Einstein equations. Using the Spectral Einstein Code (SpEC), we expand the reach of numerical relativity to simulate binary black holes with nearly extremal spins, i.e., black holes with spins near the maximal value χ = 1. These waveforms are used to calibrate existing waveform approximants used in LIGO data analyses. This ensures that the systematic errors in these approximants are small enough that if highly-spinning systems are observed, the spins are recovered without bias. Although rapidly spinning binaries have remained elusive thus far, these waveforms ensure that the highest-spin systems can be detected in the quest to uncover the spin distribution of black holes. The end state of a binary black hole merger is a newly born, single black hole that rings down like a struck bell, sending its last few ripples of gravitational waves out into the spacetime. Embedded in this 'ringdown' signal are a multitude of specific frequencies. Einstein's theory of general relativity precisely predicts the ringdown frequencies of a black hole with a given mass and spin. The statement that a black hole is entirely described by just these two parameters is known as the no-hair theorem. For black holes that obey the laws of general relativity (and consequently, the no-hair theorem), these frequencies serve as a fingerprint for the black hole. However, if the objects we observe are not Einstein's black holes, but instead something more exotic, the frequencies will not have this property and this would be a spectacular surprise. A minimum of two tones are required for this test, each with an associated frequency and damping time that depend only on the mass and spin. The conventional no-hair test relies on the so-called 'fundamental' tones of a black hole. A test relying on the fundamental modes is not expected to be feasible for another ~10-15 years, after detector sensitivity has improved significantly. However, by analyzing the ringdown of high-accuracy numerical relativity waveforms, we show that modes beyond the fundamental, known as 'overtones', are detectable in current detectors. The overtones are short-lived, but this is countered by the fact that they can initially be much stronger than the fundamental mode. By measuring two tones in the ringdown of GW150914 we perform a first test of the no-hair theorem. While the current constraints are rather loose, this first test serves as a proof of principle. This is just one example of the powerful tests that can be employed with overtones using present day detectors and the even more precise tests that can be accomplished with LISA in the future.

Waveform models are important to gravitational wave data analysis. People recently pay much attention to the waveform model construction for eccentric binary black hole (BBH) coalescence. Several effective-one-body (EOB) Numerical-Relativity waveform models of eccentric BBH coalescence have been constructed. But none of them can treat orbit eccentricity and spin-precessing simultaneously. The current paper focuses on this problem. The authors previously have constructed waveform model for spin-aligned eccentric BBH coalescence SEOBNRE. Here we extend such waveform model to describe eccentric spin-precessing BBH coalescence. We calculate the 2PN orbital radiation-reaction forces and the instantaneous part of the decomposed waveform for a general spinning precessing BBH system in EOB coordinates. We implement these results based on our previous SEOBNRE waveform model. We have also compared our model waveforms to both SXS and RIT numerical relativity waveforms. We find good consistency between our model and numerical relativity. Based on our new waveform model, we analyze the impact of the non-perpendicular spin contributions on waveform accuracy. We find that the non-perpendicular spin contributions primarily affect the phase of the gravitational waveforms. For the current gravitational wave detectors, this contribution is not significant. The future detectors may be affected by such non-perpendicular spin contributions. More importantly our SEOBNRE waveform model, as the first theoretical waveform model to describe eccentric spin-precessing BBH coalescence, can help people to analyze orbit eccentricity and spin precession simultaneously for gravitational wave detection data.

Gravitational wave (GW) detection allows us to test general relativity in entirely new regimes. A prominent role takes the detection of quasi-normal modes (QNMs), which are emitted after the merger of a binary black hole (BBH) when the highly distorted remnant emits GWs to become a regular Kerr black hole (BH). The BH uniqueness theorems of Kerr black hole solutions in general relativity imply that the frequencies and damping times of QNMs are determined solely by the mass and spin of the remnant BH. Therefore, detecting QNMs offers a unique way to probe the nature of the remnant BH and to test general relativity. We study the detection of a merging BBH in the intermediate-mass range, where the inspiral–merger phase is detected by space-based laser interferometer detectors TianQin and LISA, while the ringdown is detected by the ground-based atom interferometer (AI) observatory AION. The analysis of the ringdown is done using the regular broadband mode of AI detectors as well as the resonant mode optimizing it to the frequencies of the QNMs predicted from the inspiral–merger phase. We find that the regular broadband mode allows constraining the parameters of the BBH with relative errors of the order 10−1 and below from the ringdown. Moreover, for a variety of systems considered, the frequencies and the damping times of the QNMs can be determined with relative errors below 0.1 and 0.2, respectively. We further find that using the resonant mode can improve the parameter estimation for the BBH from the ringdown by a factor of up to three. Utilizing the resonant mode significantly limits the detection of the frequency of the QNMs but improves the detection error of the damping times by around two orders of magnitude.

We search for gravitational waves from the coalescence (inspiral, merger and ringdown) of binary black holes with data from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). Provided with well-described waveform models from General Relativity, matched filtering is employed in the GSTLAL analysis pipeline as the optimal detection technique for weak signals in Gaussian noise. The GSTLAL analysis pipeline filters data with waveform template banks, identifies triggers with SNR greater than 4, forms coincident triggers between multiple detectors in the LSC-Virgo Collaboration, and attempts to optimally separate signal from detector background noise fluctuations using a Chisquared test. We analyze high-statistics simulations of binary merger waveforms injected into LIGO recolored S6 data to evaluate the pipeline search sensitivity and to test the readiness of the pipeline for Advanced LIGO. With Advanced LIGO fully in operation by 2015 and the upgraded analysis pipelines, the expected detection rate is increased to as much as 100 events/year or more as compared to 0.01–1 events/year in Initial LIGO. Our work will make it possible to detect gravitational waves from binary black hole coalescence in Advanced LIGO data with high confidence. KEYWORDS: LIGO, Gravitational Waves, General Relativity, Coalescence, Black Hole Binaries, Noise Fluctuations, Matched Filtering, Chi-squared Test, Simulations, GSTLAL Analysis Pipeline

This thesis presents recent research into analytic topics in the classical theory of General Relativity. It is a thesis in two parts. The first part features investigations into the spectrum of perturbed, rotating black holes. These include the study of near horizon perturbations, leading to a new generic frequency mode for black hole ringdown; an treatment of high frequency waves using WKB methods for Kerr black holes; and the discovery of a bifurcation of the quasinormal mode spectrum of rapidly rotating black holes. These results represent new discoveries in the field of black hole perturbation theory, and rely on additional approximations to the linearized field equations around the background black hole. The second part of this thesis presents a recently developed method for the visualization of curved spacetimes, using field lines called the tendex and vortex lines of the spacetime. The works presented here both introduce these visualization techniques, and explore them in simple situations. These include the visualization of asymptotic gravitational radiation; weak gravity situations with and without radiation; stationary black hole spacetimes; and some preliminary study into numerically simulated black hole mergers. The second part of thesis culminates in the investigation of perturbed black holes using these field line methods, which have uncovered new insights into the dynamics of curved spacetime around black holes.