The first informative astrophysical calibration of gravitational-wave detectors is reported using GW240925 and GW250207.
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Tests of General Relativity with Binary Black Holes from the second LIGO-Virgo Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog
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abstract
Gravitational waves enable tests of general relativity in the highly dynamical and strong-field regime. Using events detected by LIGO-Virgo up to 1 October 2019, we evaluate the consistency of the data with predictions from the theory. We first establish that residuals from the best-fit waveform are consistent with detector noise, and that the low- and high-frequency parts of the signals are in agreement. We then consider parametrized modifications to the waveform by varying post-Newtonian and phenomenological coefficients, improving past constraints by factors of ${\sim}2$; we also find consistency with Kerr black holes when we specifically target signatures of the spin-induced quadrupole moment. Looking for gravitational-wave dispersion, we tighten constraints on Lorentz-violating coefficients by a factor of ${\sim}2.6$ and bound the mass of the graviton to $m_g \leq 3.09 \times 10^{-23} \mathrm{eV}/c^2$ with 90% credibility. We also analyze the properties of the merger remnants by measuring ringdown frequencies and damping times, constraining fractional deviations away from the Kerr frequency to $\delta \hat{f}_{220} = 0.03^{+0.38}_{-0.35}$ for the fundamental quadrupolar mode, and $\delta \hat{f}_{221} = 0.02^{+0.29}_{-0.33}$ for the first overtone; additionally, we find no evidence for postmerger echoes. Finally, we determine that our data are consistent with tensorial polarizations through a template-independent method. When possible, we assess the validity of general relativity based on collections of events analyzed jointly. We find no evidence for new physics beyond general relativity, for black hole mimickers, or for any unaccounted systematics.
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representative citing papers
Numerical relativity simulations of black hole scattering in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity agree closely with effective-one-body analytic predictions.
Natural polynomials for Schwarzschild and Kerr quasinormal modes are Pollaczek-Jacobi polynomials with complex parameters, with recurrence peaking at the physical overtone index for Schwarzschild.
A full-covariance formalism for PTA-astrometry ORF estimators forecasts graviton-mass upper limits of 4.41e-24 eV/c2 for current-like setups and 0.48e-24 eV/c2 for SKA/Theia-like future setups, with astrometry adding significant power in the latter case.
GreyRing model based on greybody factors reproduces numerical relativity ringdown signals with mismatches of order 10^{-6} and enables a new post-merger consistency test of general relativity applied to GW250114.
Leading-order deviations from general relativity in scalar quasinormal modes of rotating black holes are computed numerically up to dimensionless spins of 0.99 in quadratic-curvature scalar-tensor theories.
Ratio-Filter Dechirping converts gravitational-wave matched filtering from a memory-bound FFT into a cache-efficient FIR convolution, delivering a measured 8x speedup in the core loop.
A four-parameter greybody factor model reproduces the frequency-domain ringdown amplitude of comparable-mass aligned-spin mergers with mismatches of order 10^{-5}, improving existing models by two orders of magnitude.
A unified framework for the perturbed Kepler problem derives modified eccentric orbits and gravitational wave imprints from a general perturbed potential, offering a source-specific alternative to post-Newtonian expansions.
Bayesian analysis finds individual QNM frequencies near avoided crossings hard to resolve even under optimistic conditions, though collective AC waveform signatures may remain detectable if those modes dominate and slower-mode contamination is minimal.
A framework is developed to test beyond-GR effects in nanohertz continuous waves from individual SMBHBs, deriving modified inter-pulsar correlations, antenna responses, and phase delays for three deviation classes, validated by injection-recovery simulations showing parameter recovery and no GR bias
Kinetic screening non-monotonically suppresses or enhances scalar quadrupolar emission from equal-mass neutron star binaries depending on screening radius versus wavelength, with a dipole re-emerging linearly with mass asymmetry.
A closed formula computes static post-Newtonian corrections at arbitrary odd orders in gravity, yielding the explicit seventh post-Newtonian potential that matches an independent diagrammatic method.
A glitch-robust amortized inference framework combining normalizing flows, time-frequency multimodal fusion, and contrastive learning outperforms MCMC for Taiji massive black hole binary parameter estimation under noise contamination.
Relativistic metric backreaction from scalar dark matter clouds in EMRIs produces dominant polar gravitational wave corrections for Mμ ≲ 0.12, exceeding axial and scalar radiation channels at small separations.
Unmodeled point-mass lensing produces a spurious nonzero graviton mass posterior in GW231123 that vanishes when lensing is included in the analysis.
The LQG parameter ξ enlarges equatorial bound orbit energy ranges, confines off-equatorial trajectories, and produces larger deviations from Kerr waveforms in EMRI models for two rotating LQG black holes, though signals fall below detector sensitivities.
GW250114 data constrains GR deviations in merger amplitude to 10% and frequency to 4% at 90% CL, with first bounds on the (4,4) mode frequency at 6%.
Higher-order WKB accurately computes quasinormal mode frequencies for rotating black holes beyond general relativity, with errors below current GW measurement precision for GW250114.
A novel quantity derived from GW signals encodes the density profile of dark dense environments around black holes, allowing characterization of the condensate type and DM properties via multi-wavelength observations.
Semi-analytic waveform model for scalar environments around black hole binaries is validated against numerical relativity and applied to LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA data to obtain upper limits on scalar densities with tentative evidence in GW190728.
F-statistic framework analytically maximizes over distance and polarization to enable faster Bayesian inference of compact binary coalescences with a new evidence formulation that matches full frequency-domain results at lower cost.
GW250114 data confirm the remnant is consistent with a Kerr black hole and bound the dominant quadrupolar mode frequency to within a few percent of the GR prediction, with constraints tighter than prior multi-event catalogs.
Neural spline flows perform fast posterior inference on 11-dimensional millilensed GW parameters with accuracy comparable to dynesty for most quantities and a 3-day to 0.8-second speedup.
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The first informative astrophysical calibration of gravitational-wave detectors is reported using GW240925 and GW250207.
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Numerical relativity simulations of black hole scattering in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity agree closely with effective-one-body analytic predictions.
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Properties of natural polynomials for Schwarzschild and Kerr black holes
Natural polynomials for Schwarzschild and Kerr quasinormal modes are Pollaczek-Jacobi polynomials with complex parameters, with recurrence peaking at the physical overtone index for Schwarzschild.
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Forecasting graviton-mass constraints from the full covariance of PTA-astrometry ORF estimators
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Quadratic gravity corrections to scalar QNMs of rapidly rotating black holes
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Modeling the frequency-domain ringdown amplitude of comparable-mass mergers with greybody factors
A four-parameter greybody factor model reproduces the frequency-domain ringdown amplitude of comparable-mass aligned-spin mergers with mismatches of order 10^{-5}, improving existing models by two orders of magnitude.
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Generalized Perturbed Kepler Problem: Gravitational Wave Imprints from Eccentric Compact Binaries
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Testing General Relativity with Individual Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
A framework is developed to test beyond-GR effects in nanohertz continuous waves from individual SMBHBs, deriving modified inter-pulsar correlations, antenna responses, and phase delays for three deviation classes, validated by injection-recovery simulations showing parameter recovery and no GR bias
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Scalar emission from binary neutron stars in scalar-tensor theories with kinetic screening
Kinetic screening non-monotonically suppresses or enhances scalar quadrupolar emission from equal-mass neutron star binaries depending on screening radius versus wavelength, with a dipole re-emerging linearly with mass asymmetry.
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All-order structure of static gravitational interactions and the seventh post-Newtonian potential
A closed formula computes static post-Newtonian corrections at arbitrary odd orders in gravity, yielding the explicit seventh post-Newtonian potential that matches an independent diagrammatic method.
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Robust parameter inference for Taiji via time-frequency contrastive learning and normalizing flows
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Relativistic signatures of scalar dark matter in extreme-mass-ratio inspirals
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GW231123: False Massive Graviton Signatures from Unmodeled Point-Mass Lensing
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Particle motions and gravitational waveforms in rotating black hole spacetimes of loop quantum gravity
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Plunge-Merger-Ringdown Tests of General Relativity with GW250114
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Quasinormal modes of rotating black holes beyond general relativity in the WKB approximation
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Extracting Properties of Dark Dense Environments around Black Holes from Gravitational Waves
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Scalar fields around black hole binaries in LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA
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Black Hole Spectroscopy and Tests of General Relativity with GW250114
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Evidence for eccentricity in the population of binary black holes observed by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA
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Leading effective field theory corrections to the Kerr metric at all spins
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GW250114: testing Hawking's area law and the Kerr nature of black holes
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Polarization Birefringence and Waveform Systematics in GW231123
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