No Arabic abstract
We introduce a novel test of General Relativity in the strong-field regime of a binary black hole coalescence. Combining information coming from Numerical Relativity simulations of coalescing black hole binaries with a Bayesian reconstruction of the gravitational wave signal detected in LIGO-Virgo interferometric data, allows one to test theoretical predictions for the instantaneous gravitational wave frequency measured at the peak of the gravitational wave signal amplitude. We present the construction of such a test and apply it on the first gravitational wave event detected by the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations, GW150914. The $p$-value obtained is $p=0.48$, to be contrasted with an expected value of $p=0.5$, so that no signs of violations from General Relativity were detected.
We produce the first astrophysically-relevant numerical binary black hole gravitational waveform in a higher-curvature theory of gravity beyond general relativity. We simulate a system with parameters consistent with GW150914, the first LIGO detection, in order-reduced dynamical Chern-Simons gravity, a theory with motivations in string theory and loop quantum gravity. We present results for the leading-order corrections to the merger and ringdown waveforms, as well as the ringdown quasi-normal mode spectrum. We estimate that such corrections may be discriminated in detections with signal to noise ratio $gtrsim 180-240$, with the precise value depending on the dimension of the GR waveform family used in data analysis.
The LIGO detection of GW150914 provides an unprecedented opportunity to study the two-body motion of a compact-object binary in the large velocity, highly nonlinear regime, and to witness the final merger of the binary and the excitation of uniquely relativistic modes of the gravitational field. We carry out several investigations to determine whether GW150914 is consistent with a binary black-hole merger in general relativity. We find that the final remnants mass and spin, as determined from the low-frequency (inspiral) and high-frequency (post-inspiral) phases of the signal, are mutually consistent with the binary black-hole solution in general relativity. Furthermore, the data following the peak of GW150914 are consistent with the least-damped quasi-normal mode inferred from the mass and spin of the remnant black hole. By using waveform models that allow for parameterized general-relativity violations during the inspiral and merger phases, we perform quantitative tests on the gravitational-wave phase in the dynamical regime and we determine the first empirical bounds on several high-order post-Newtonian coefficients. We constrain the graviton Compton wavelength, assuming that gravitons are dispersed in vacuum in the same way as particles with mass, obtaining a $90%$-confidence lower bound of $10^{13}$ km. In conclusion, within our statistical uncertainties, we find no evidence for violations of general relativity in the genuinely strong-field regime of gravity.
Two new observational windows have been opened to strong gravitational physics: gravitational waves, and very long baseline interferometry. This suggests observational searches for new phenomena in this regime, and in particular for those necessary to make black hole evolution consistent with quantum mechanics. We describe possible features of compact quantum objects that replace classical black holes in a consistent quantum theory, and approaches to observational tests for these using gravitational waves. This is an example of a more general problem of finding consistent descriptions of deviations from general relativity, which can be tested via gravitational wave detection. Simple models for compact modifications to classical black holes are described via an effective stress tensor, possibly with an effective equation of state. A general discussion is given of possible observational signatures, and of their dependence on properties of the colliding objects. The possibility that departures from classical behavior are restricted to the near-horizon regime raises the question of whether these will be obscured in gravitational wave signals, due to their mutual interaction in a binary coalescence being deep in the mutual gravitational well. Numerical simulation with such simple models will be useful to clarify the sensitivity of gravitational wave observation to such highly compact departures from classical black holes.
We study test-body orbits in the gravitational field of a static spherically symmetric object in presence of a minimally coupled nonlinear scalar field. We generated a two-parametric family of scalar field potentials, which allow finding solutions of Einsteins equations in an analytic form. The results are presented by means of hypergeometric functions; they describe either a naked singularity (NS) or a black hole (BH). Our numerical investigation shows that in both cases the stable circular orbits can form separated (non-connected) regions around the configuration. We found existence conditions for such separated regions and present examples for some family parameters in case of NS and BH. The results may be of interest for testing models of the dynamical dark energy.
The cold dark matter paradigm has been posited as the standard explanation for the non-Keplerian behavior of galaxy rotation curves, where for galaxies satisfying the Tully-Fisher relation, the mass of the dark matter halo from a large class of universal dark matter profiles ought to roughly increase linearly with radial distance at large distances, $m(r) sim r/nG$ ($G$ is the gravitational constant and $n$ is a dimensionless parameter which depends on the amount of baryonic matter $M$ within the galaxy). Despite numerous advances in modeling galaxy formation and evolution, a scientific consensus on the origin of the observed dependence of the dimensionless parameter $n = (GMa_{0})^{-1/2}$ on the mass of baryonic matter $M$ within the galaxy (the Tully-Fisher relation), and the connection of the cosmological constant $Lambda$ to the parameter $a_{0} sim (Lambda/3)^{1/2}$ remains elusive. Here, we show that Einstein Field Equations can be remolded into $ abla_{ u}mathcal{K}^{ u}_{,,mu} = 8pi GMPsi^{*}mathcal{D}_{mu}Psi$, where $mathcal{K}_{mu u}$ is a complex Hermitian tensor, $mathcal{D}_{mu}$ is a covariant derivative and $Psi$ is a complex-valued function. This avails a novel constraint, $ abla_{mu} abla_{ u}mathcal{K}^{mu u} = 0$ not necessarily available in Einsteins General Relativity. In the weak-field regime, we can readily reproduce the Tully-Fisher relation using the usual charge-less pressure-less fluid. Moreover, our approach is equivalent to a Ginzburg-Landau theory of $n$ bosons, where the order parameter is normalized as $int_{0}^{1/a_{0}} dr,4pi r^2Psi^*Psi = n$ and $1/a_{0} sim (Lambda/3)^{-1/2}$ is the cut-off length scale comparable to the size of the de Sitter universe. Our investigations provide a framework that reproduces the mass-asymptotic speed relation in galaxies within the cold dark matter paradigm.