We show that light scalars can form quasibound states around binaries. In the nonrelativistic regime, these states are formally described by the quantum-mechanical Schrodinger equation for a one-electron heteronuclear diatomic molecule. We performed extensive numerical simulations of scalar fields around black hole binaries showing that a scalar structure condenses around the binary -- we dub these states gravitational molecules. We further show that these are well described by the perturbative, nonrelativistic description.
Gravitational waves (GWs) from merging black holes allow for unprecedented probes of strong-field gravity. Testing gravity in this regime requires accurate predictions of gravitational waveform templates in viable extensions of General Relativity. We concentrate on scalar Gauss-Bonnet gravity, one of the most compelling classes of theories appearing as low-energy limit of quantum gravity paradigms, which introduces quadratic curvature corrections to gravity coupled to a scalar field and allows for black hole solutions with scalar-charge. Focusing on inspiralling black hole binaries, we compute the leading-order corrections due to curvature nonlinearities in the GW and scalar waveforms, showing that the new contributions, beyond merely the effect of scalar field, appear at first post-Newtonian order in GWs. We provide ready-to-implement GW polarizations and phasing. Computing the GW phasing in the Fourier domain, we perform a parameter-space study to quantify the detectability of deviations from General Relativity. Our results lay important foundations for future precision tests of gravity with both parametrized and theory-specific searches.
LIGO and Virgo have recently observed a number of gravitational wave (GW) signals that are fully consistent with being emitted by binary black holes described by general relativity. However, there are theoretical proposals of exotic objects that can be massive and compact enough to be easily confused with black holes. Nevertheless, these objects differ from black holes in having nonzero tidal deformabilities, which can allow one to distinguish binaries containing such objects from binary black holes using GW observations. Using full Bayesian parameter estimation, we investigate the possibility of constraining the parameter space of such black hole mimickers with upcoming GW observations. Employing perfect fluid stars with a polytropic equation of state as a simple model that can encompass a variety of possible black hole mimickers, we show how the observed masses and tidal deformabilities of a binary constrain the equation of state. We also show how such constraints can be used to rule out some simple models of boson stars.
Large dark matter overdensities can form around black holes of astrophysical and primordial origin as they form and grow. This dark dress inevitably affects the dynamical evolution of binary systems, and induces a dephasing in the gravitational waveform that can be probed with future interferometers. In this paper, we introduce a new analytical model to rapidly compute gravitational waveforms in presence of an evolving dark matter distribution. We then present a Bayesian analysis determining when dressed black hole binaries can be distinguished from GR-in-vacuum ones and how well their parameters can be measured, along with how close they must be to be detectable by the planned Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). We show that LISA can definitively distinguish dark dresses from standard binaries and characterize the dark matter environments around astrophysical and primordial black holes for a wide range of model parameters. Our approach can be generalized to assess the prospects for detecting, classifying, and characterizing other environmental effects in gravitational wave physics.
Modelling of gravitational waves from binary black hole inspiral has played an important role in the recent observations of such signals. The late-stage ringdown phase of the gravitational waveform is often associated with the null particle orbit (light ring) of the black hole spacetime. With simple models we show that this link between the light ring and spacetime ringing is based more on the history of specific models than on an actual constraining relationship. We also show, in particular, that a better understanding of the dissociation of the two may be relevant to the astrophysically interesting case of rotating (Kerr) black holes.
The LISA mission will observe gravitational waves emitted from tens of thousands of galactic binaries, in particular white dwarf binary systems. These objects are known to have intense magnetic fields. However, these fields are usually not considered as their influence on the orbital and rotational motion of the binary is assumed for being too weak. It turns out that magnetic fields modify the orbits, in particular their geometry with respect to the observer. In this work, we revisit the issue, assuming magnetostatic approximation, and we show how the magnetic fields within a binary system generate a secular drift in the argument of the periastron, leading then, to modifications of the gravitational waveforms that are potentially detectable by LISA.