Tests of General Relativity with GW150914

Abstract

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 remnant's mass and spin, as determined from the low-frequency (inspiral) and high-frequency (postinspiral) 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 quasinormal mode inferred from the mass and spin of the remnant black hole. By using waveform models that allow for parametrized 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.

Binary Black Hole Mergers in the First Advanced LIGO Observing Run

“…Several tests of general relativity were performed using GW150914, as described in Ref. [41]. One of these was a parametrized test for the consistency of the observed waveform with a general-relativity-based model.…”

A recipe for echoes from exotic compact objects

“…Observations of black holes are undergoing a revolution, with the advent of gravitational wave astronomy [2][3][4][5] and the promise of very-longbaseline radio observations of supermassive black holes by the Event Horizon Telescope [6,7]. While black holes are consistent with all electromagnetic and gravitational wave observations to date [4,5,[8][9][10], no experiment has been able probe spacetime near the event horizon [11][12][13]. Moreover, the event horizon is at the heart of the BH information paradox [14], and the role of black holes in a quantum theory of gravity is an open question.…”

Creating a (Quantum?) Constraint, in Pre Planckian Space-Time Early Universe via the Einstein Cosmological Constant in a One to One and Onto Comparison between Two Action Integrals

“…i.e. it is important to keep in mind that in addition, [20] has confirmed that a subsequent analysis of the event GW150914 by the LSC constrained the graviton Compton wavelength of those alternative theories of gravity in which the graviton is massive and placed a level of 90% confidence on the lower bound of 10 13 km for a Compton wavelength of the graviton. Doing this sort of vetting protocols in line with being consistent with investigation as to a real investigation as to the fundamental nature of gravity.…”