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Black Hole Spectroscopy with Coherent Mode Stacking

Huan Yang, Kent Yagi, Jonathan Blackman, Luis Lehner, Vasileios Paschalidis, Frans Pretorius, and Nicolás Yunes
Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 161101 – Published 20 April 2017
Physics logo See Synopsis: Turning up the Ringdown
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Abstract

The measurement of multiple ringdown modes in gravitational waves from binary black hole mergers will allow for testing the fundamental properties of black holes in general relativity and to constrain modified theories of gravity. To enhance the ability of Advanced LIGO/Virgo to perform such tasks, we propose a coherent mode stacking method to search for a chosen target mode within a collection of multiple merger events. We first rescale each signal so that the target mode in each of them has the same frequency and then sum the waveforms constructively. A crucial element to realize this coherent superposition is to make use of a priori information extracted from the inspiral-merger phase of each event. To illustrate the method, we perform a study with simulated events targeting the =m=3 ringdown mode of the remnant black holes. We show that this method can significantly boost the signal-to-noise ratio of the collective target mode compared to that of the single loudest event. Using current estimates of merger rates, we show that it is likely that advanced-era detectors can measure this collective ringdown mode with one year of coincident data gathered at design sensitivity.

  • Figure
  • Received 20 January 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.161101

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

Synopsis

Key Image

Turning up the Ringdown

Published 20 April 2017

Stacking up gravitational-wave “ringdown” signals from a set of black hole mergers increases the sensitivity of the signals to black hole properties.

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Authors & Affiliations

Huan Yang1, Kent Yagi1, Jonathan Blackman2, Luis Lehner3,4, Vasileios Paschalidis1, Frans Pretorius1,4, and Nicolás Yunes5

  • 1Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA
  • 2TAPIR, Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
  • 3Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada
  • 4CIFAR, Cosmology and Gravity Program, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1Z8, Canada
  • 5eXtreme Gravity Institute, Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA

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Issue

Vol. 118, Iss. 16 — 21 April 2017

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