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Capano et al

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abstract

When two black holes merge, the late stage of gravitational wave emission is a superposition of exponentially damped sinusoids. According to the black hole no-hair theorem, this ringdown spectrum depends only on the mass and angular momentum of the final black hole. An observation of more than one ringdown mode can test this fundamental prediction of general relativity. Here we provide strong observational evidence for a multimode black hole ringdown spectrum using the gravitational wave event GW190521, with a maximum Bayes factor of $56\pm1$ ($1\sigma$ uncertainty) preferring two fundamental modes over one. The dominant mode is the $\ell=m=2$ harmonic, and the sub-dominant mode corresponds to the $\ell=m=3$ harmonic. The amplitude of this mode relative to the dominant harmonic is estimated to be $A_{330}/A_{220} = 0.2^{+0.2}_{-0.1}$. We estimate the redshifted mass and dimensionless spin of the final black hole as $330_{-40}^{+30}~\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ and $0.86_{-0.11}^{+0.06}$, respectively. We find that the final black hole is consistent with the no hair theorem and constrain the fractional deviation from general relativity of the sub-dominant mode's frequency to be $-0.01^{+0.08}_{-0.09}$.

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representative citing papers

Impact of sky localization uncertainty on ringdown inference

gr-qc · 2026-05-18 · conditional · novelty 5.0

Properly accounting for sky localization uncertainty in ringdown inference widens mode-amplitude posteriors, avoids bias from fixed point estimates, and leaves amplitude ratios robust for Kerr spectroscopy.

Ringdown Analysis of GW250114 with Orthonormal Modes

gr-qc · 2026-05-05 · unverdicted · novelty 5.0

Orthonormal QNM analysis of GW250114 raises the significance of the first overtone of the ℓ=m=2 mode from 82.5% to 99.9% and detects no significant deviation from Kerr predictions.

Modeling Direct Waves in Binary Black Hole Ringdowns

gr-qc · 2026-06-23 · unverdicted · novelty 4.0

Direct waves are identified in NR ringdown waveforms using QNM extraction techniques over a range of start times, but their frequency deviates from the horizon-mode prediction.

Tests of General Relativity with GWTC-3

gr-qc · 2021-12-13 · accept · novelty 3.0

No evidence for physics beyond general relativity is found in the analysis of 15 GW events from GWTC-3, with consistency in residuals, PN parameters, and remnant properties.

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