双黑洞信号GW250114是迄今探测到的最强引力波事件，为在高速度、强引力场区域检验爱因斯坦的广义相对论（GR）以及探测残骸是否符合克尔度规提供了独特机会。黑洞受到扰动后，会发射一系列具有特定复频率的阻尼正弦波。我们对并合后信号的分析表明，至少需要两个准正则模式才能解释数据，其中阻尼最强的模式在一个周期左右仍具有统计显著性。我们通过约束主导的四极（$\ell = m = 2$）模式及其第一泛音的谱学模式，使其在多个峰值后时刻与克尔预测在百分之几十的精度内匹配，从而探测残骸的克尔性质。测得的模式振幅和相位与参数接近GW250114的数值相对论模拟结果一致。通过拟合包含完整旋进-并合-铃宕序列的参数化波形，我们将基本（$\ell=m=4$）模式约束在百分之几十的精度内，并将四极频率限制在广义相对论预测的百分之几以内。我们进行了一系列跨越旋进、并合和铃宕阶段的检验，发现约束与第四次引力波瞬变目录中数十个事件组合所得结果相当，在某些情况下严格2-3倍。这些结果构成了迄今对广义相对论和黑洞克尔性质最严格的单事件验证，并展示了黑洞光谱学对未来引力波观测的强大能力。
英文摘要：
The binary black hole signal GW250114, the loudest gravitational wave detected to date, offers a unique opportunity to test Einstein's general relativity (GR) in the high-velocity, strong-gravity regime and probe whether the remnant conforms to the Kerr metric. Upon perturbation, black holes emit a spectrum of damped sinusoids with specific, complex frequencies. Our analysis of the post-merger signal shows that at least two quasi-normal modes are required to explain the data, with the most damped remaining statistically significant for about one cycle. We probe the remnant's Kerr nature by constraining the spectroscopic pattern of the dominant quadrupolar ($\ell = m = 2$) mode and its first overtone to match the Kerr prediction to tens of percent at multiple post-peak times. The measured mode amplitudes and phases agree with a numerical-relativity simulation having parameters close to GW250114. By fitting a parameterized waveform that incorporates the full inspiral-merger-ringdown sequence, we constrain the fundamental $(\ell=m=4)$ mode to tens of percent and bound the quadrupolar frequency to within a few percent of the GR prediction. We perform a suite of tests -- spanning inspiral, merger, and ringdown -- finding constraints that are comparable to, and in some cases 2-3 times more stringent than those obtained by combining dozens of events in the fourth Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog. These results constitute the most stringent single-event verification of GR and the Kerr nature of black holes to date, and outline the power of black-hole spectroscopy for future gravitational-wave observations.
In this paper, we review our current efforts to test General Relativity in the strong field regime by studying the reflection spectrum of supermassive black holes. So far we have analyzed 11 sources with observations of NuSTAR, Suzaku, Swift, and XMM-Newton. Our results are consistent with general relativity, according to which the spacetime metric around astrophysical black holes should be well approximated by the Kerr solution. We discuss the systematic uncertainties in our model and we present a preliminary study on the impact of some of them on the measurement of the spacetime metric.
X-ray reflection spectroscopy is a promising technique for testing general relativity in the strong field regime, as it can be used to test the Kerr black hole hypothesis. In this context, the parametrically deformed black hole metrics proposed by Konoplya, Rezzolla \& Zhidenko (Phys. Rev. D93, 064015, 2016) form an important class of non-Kerr black holes. We implement this class of black hole metrics in \textsc{relxill\_nk}, which is a framework we have developed for testing for non-Kerr black holes using X-ray reflection spectroscopy. We perform a qualitative analysis of the effect of the le…
Einstein's theory of General Relativity is one of the pillars of modern physics. For decades, the theory has been mainly tested in the weak field regime with experiments in the Solar System and observations of binary pulsars. Thanks to a new generation of observational facilities, the past 5 years have seen remarkable changes in this field and there are now numerous efforts for testing General Relativity in the strong field regime with black holes and neutron stars using different techniques. Here I will review the work of my group at Fudan University devoted to test General Relativity with bl…
Einstein's theory of General Relativity was proposed over 100 years ago and has successfully passed a large number of observational tests in weak gravitational fields. On the contrary, the strong field regime is still largely unexplored. Astrophysical black holes are ideal laboratories for testing gravity in the strong field regime. Here I will briefly review the current efforts of my group to test the strong gravitational field around black holes using X-ray data from NuSTAR, RXTE, Suzaku, and XMM-Newton.
Einstein's theory of General Relativity predicts that the spacetime metric around astrophysical black holes is described by the Kerr solution. In this work, we employ state-of-the-art in relativistic reflection modeling to analyze a selected set of NuSTAR spectra of Galactic black holes to obtain the most robust and precise constraints on the Kerr black hole hypothesis possible today. Our constraints are much more stringent than those from other electromagnetic techniques, and with some sources we get stronger constraints than those currently available from gravitational waves.
Measurements of black-hole spins are of crucial importance to fulfill the promise of gravitational-wave astronomy. On the astrophysics side, spins are perhaps the cleanest indicator of black-hole evolutionary processes, thus providing a preferred way to discriminate how LIGO's black holes form. On the relativity side, spins are responsible for peculiar dynamical phenomena (from precessional modulations in the long inspiral to gravitational-wave recoils at merger) which encode precious information on the underlying astrophysical processes. I present some examples to explore this deep and fascin…
The theory of General Relativity has successfully passed a large number of observational tests. The theory has been extensively tested in the weak-field regime with experiments in the Solar System and observations of binary pulsars. The past five years have seen significant advancements in the study of the strong-field regime, which can now be tested with gravitational waves, X-ray data, and mm Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations. Here I summarize the state-of-the-art of the tests of General Relativity with black hole X-ray data, discussing its recent progress and future development…
Einstein's gravity has been extensively tested in the weak field regime, primarily with experiments in the Solar System and observations of binary pulsars, and current data agree well with theoretical predictions. On the other hand, strong gravity is largely unexplored and there are a number of theories beyond Einstein's gravity that make the same predictions for weak fields and present deviations only when gravity becomes strong. The best laboratory for testing strong gravity is the spacetime around astrophysical black holes. X-ray reflection spectroscopy can be a powerful tool to probe the s…
The theory of General Relativity has successfully passed a large number of observational tests. The theory has been extensively tested in the weak-field regime with experiments in the Solar System and observations of binary pulsars. Recently, there have seen significant advancements in the study of the strong-field regime, which can now be tested with gravitational waves, X-ray data, and mm Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations. Here we summarize the state-of-the-art of the tests of General Relativity with black hole X-ray data, discussing its recent progress and future developments.
The iron line and the continuum-fitting methods are currently the two leading techniques for measuring black hole spins with electromagnetic radiation. They can be naturally extended for probing the spacetime geometry around black holes and testing general relativity in the strong field regime. In the past couple of years, there has been significant work to use the iron line method to test the nature of black holes. In this Letter, we use the continuum-fitting method and we show its capability of constraining the spacetime geometry around black holes by analyzing 17 RXTE data of the X-ray bina…
We apply common gravitational wave inference procedures on binary black hole merger waveforms beyond general relativity. We consider dynamical Chern-Simons gravity, a modified theory of gravity with origins in string theory and loop quantum gravity. This theory introduces an additional parameter $\ell$, corresponding to the length-scale below which beyond-general-relativity effects become important. We simulate data based on numerical relativity waveforms produced under an approximation to this theory, which differ from those of general relativity in the strongly nonlinear merger regime. We co…
Recently, we have extended the X-ray reflection model relxill to test the spacetime metric in the strong gravitational field of astrophysical black holes. In the present Letter, we employ this extended model to analyze XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, and Swift data of the supermassive black hole in 1H0707-495 and test deviations from a Kerr metric parametrized by the Johannsen deformation parameter $α_{13}$. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the spacetime metric around the black hole in 1H0707-495 is described by the Kerr solution.
Observations of the black hole shadow of supermassive black holes, such as Sagittarius A* at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, allow us to study the properties of black holes and the nature of strong-field gravity. According to the Kerr hypothesis, isolated, stationary, and axisymmetric astrophysical black holes are described by the Kerr metric. The Kerr hypothesis holds in General Relativity and in some modified gravity theories, but there are others in which it is violated. In principle, black hole shadow observations can be used to determine if the Kerr metric is the correct description f…
We compare and contrast the emission of gravitational waves and waveforms for the recently established "helicoidal-drifting-sequence" of a test particle around a Kerr black hole with the publicly available waveform templates of numerical-relativity. The merger of two black holes of comparable mass are considered. We outline a final smooth merging of the test particle into the final Kerr black hole. We find a surprising and unexpected agreement between the two treatments if we adopt, for the mass of the particle and the Kerr black hole a Newtonian-center-of-mass description, and for the Kerr bl…
Schwarzschild black-hole immersed in an electric or magnetic background in Entangled Relativity
Artemis, Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Observatoire Côte d’Azur（阿耳特弥斯，蔚蓝海岸大学，法国国家科学研究中心，蔚蓝海岸天文台）；Bureau des Affaires Spatiales（空间事务局）；Departament de Física Quántica i Astrofísica (FQA), Universitat de Barcelona (UB)（巴塞罗那大学量子物理与天体物理学系）
Detections of gravitational waves emitted by binary black holes allow for tests of General Relativity in the strong-field regime. In particular, deviations from General Relativity can be observed by comparing incoming signals to waveform templates that include parametrized deviations from General Relativity. However, it is essential that the General Relativity sector of these templates accounts for all predictable physics. Otherwise, missing physics might be mimicked by the "beyond General Relativity" sector of the templates, leading the analysis to report apparent deviations from General Rela…
Astrophysical black hole systems are the ideal laboratories for testing Einstein's theory of gravity in the strong field regime. We have recently developed a framework which uses the reflection spectrum of black hole systems to perform precision tests of general relativity by testing the Kerr black hole hypothesis. In this paper, we analyze XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observations of the supermassive black hole in the Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG-06-30-15 with our disk reflection model. We consider the Johannsen metric with the deformation parameters $α_{13}$ and $α_{22}$, which quantify deviations from the…
We use the Relativistic Precession Model (RPM) (Stella et al. 1999a) and quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) observations from the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer to derive constraints on the properties of the black holes that power these sources and to test General Relativity (GR) in the strong field regime. We extend the techniques outlined by Motta et al. (2014a,b) to use pairs of simultaneously measured QPOs, rather than triplets, and extend the underlying spacetime metric to constrain potential deviations from the predictions of GR for astrophysical black holes. To do this, we modify the RPM mod…
We consider the observation of stellar-mass black holes binaries with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). Preliminary results based on Fisher information matrix analyses have suggested that gravitational waves from those sources could be very sensitive to possible deviations from the theory of general relativity and from the strong equivalence principle during the low-frequency binary inspiral. We perform a full Markov Chain Monte Carlo Bayesian analysis to quantify the sensitivity of these signals to two phenomenological modifications of general relativity, namely a putative gravit…
In this paper, we briefly present RELXILL_NK, the first and currently only readily available model of the relativistic reflection spectrum of black hole accretion disks that includes non-Kerr solutions for the black hole spacetime, thus allowing for tests of the Kerr hypothesis and GR. RELXILL_NK makes use of a general relativistic ray-tracing code to calculate the relativistic effects of any well-behaved, stationary, axisymmetric, and asymptotically flat black hole spacetime, while the disk physics is handled through the non-relativistic X-ray reflection code XILLVER. A number of different fl…
In this manuscript, we show that the external Schwarzschild metric can be a good approximation of exact black hole solutions of entangled relativity. Since entangled relativity cannot be defined from vacuum, the demonstrations need to rely on the definition of matter fields. The electromagnetic field being the easiest (and perhaps the only) existing matter field with infinite range to consider, we study the case of a charged black hole -- for which the solution of entangled relativity and a dilaton theory agree -- as well as the case of a pure radiation -- for which the solution of entangled r…
We present a new initial data formulation to solve the full set of Einstein equations for spacetimes that contain a black hole under general conditions. The method can be used to construct complete initial data for spacetimes (the full metric) that contain a black hole. Contrary to most current studies the formulation requires minimal assumptions. For example, rather than imposing the form of the spatial conformal metric we impose 3 gauge conditions adapted to the coordinates describing the system under consideration. For stationary, axisymmetric spacetimes our method yields Kerr-Schild black …
Binary black holes with spins that are aligned with the orbital angular momentum do not precess. However, post-Newtonian calculations predict that "up-down" binaries, in which the spin of the heavier (lighter) black hole is aligned (antialigned) with the orbital angular momentum, are unstable when the spins are slightly perturbed from perfect alignment. This instability provides a possible mechanism for the formation of precessing binaries in environments where sources are preferentially formed with (anti) aligned spins. In this paper, we present the first full numerical relativity simulations…
This work is originally a Cambridge Part III essay. Throughout the paper, some aspects of General Relativity in higher dimensions are reviewed. The work presented draws a path within the wide landscape of higher dimensional black holes theory towards a specific objective: understanding how the combination of extended black objects and ultra-spinning rotation dynamics give rise to black hole topologies that depart from sphericity. The discussion aims to offer a compromise between giving a reasonably wide picture of the area of higher dimensional black holes, while at the same time going into de…
I present two results that show that, despite its unusual non-linear form, the phenomenology of entangled relativity remains close to the one of general relativity -- without having any free parameter that can be fine tuned in order to facilitate this. In particular, I present the analytical solutions for spherically charged black-holes, and both the analytical and numerical solutions for neutron stars.
This work is devoted to investigate some consequences of black holes physics beyond the domain of general relativity, mainly in effective extra dimensional models. The investigation is carried along three gravitational effects, namely the Hawking radiation, the strong deflection of gravitational lensing and the formation of quantum black holes. A cosmological thick brane solution is also investigated. Effective theories and models provide a prominent approach for testing the limits of known theories and show what would be expected beyond that. Based on such idea we have used effective models f…
A general Hamiltonian approach to black hole thermodynamics is used to study entropy and conserved charges for Kerr-AdS solutions in general relativity. These thermodynamic variables are first consistently defined by choosing suitable boundary conditions, and then, they are shown to satisfy the first law of black hole dynamics
Black hole thermodynamics of the Kerr-AdS spacetime in three-dimensional general relativity is analyzed using a Hamiltonian approach. The values of the conserved charges and entropy, obtained by a proper treatment of the AdS asymptotic conditions, are shown to satisfy the first law of black hole dynamics.
Gravitational waves from the coalescence of two black holes carry the signature of the strong field dynamics of binary black holes. In this work we have used numerical relativity simulations and post-Newtonian theory to investigate this dynamics. Post-Newtonian theory is a low-velocity expansion that assumes the companion bodies to be point-particles, while numerical relativity treats black holes as extended objects with horizons and fully captures their dynamics. There is a priori no reason for the waveforms computed using these disparate methods to agree with each other, especially at late t…
We explore different (and complementary) views of spinors and their exotic counterparts, linking the very existence of the later to the presence of black holes. Moreover, we investigate the effects of the exotic term in the Hawking radiation emission rate, as well as its extremes, for asymptotically flat black holes solutions of general relativity. We show that, under certain circumstances, the emission rate extreme condition fixates an equation from which the exotic term could be inferred.
We use the Møller and Landau-Lifshitz energy-momentum definitions in General Relativity (GR) to evaluate the energy-momentum distribution of the phantom black hole space-time. The phantom black hole model was applied to the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Centre. We obtain that in both pseudotensorial prescriptions the energy distribution depends on the mass $M$ of the black hole, the phantom constant $p$ and the radial coordinate $r$. Further, all the calculated momenta are found to be zero. The limiting cases $r\rightarrow 0$, $r\rightarrow \infty $ and $r\rightarrow -\infty $ have a…
