Quasinormal modes of the Kerr-Newman black hole: GW150914 and fundamental physics implications

Abstract

We develop an analytical ringdown waveform model, including both the fundamental and the overtone quasinormal modes, for charged black holes and show that it is precise enough to analyze current gravitational wave data. Applying this waveform model to GW150914, the charge to mass ratio of the remnant black hole (${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{f}$) has been constrained with the sole ringdown gravitational wave data for the first time and the 90% upper limit is ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{f}\ensuremath{\le}0.38$. Correspondingly, the deviation parameter of the scalar-tensor vector gravity (${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{\mathrm{s}}$) is limited to be ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{\mathrm{s}}\ensuremath{\le}0.17$. Our approach can be directly applied to other binary black hole mergers with loud ringdown radiation.