Ringdown analysis of GW150914 with overtones measures remnant mass and spin consistent with a Kerr black hole, supporting the no-hair theorem at the 10% level.
Observational tests of the black hole area increase law
4 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.
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abstract
The black hole area theorem implies that when two black holes merge, the area of the final black hole should be greater than the sum of the areas of the two original black holes. We examine how this prediction can be tested with gravitational-wave observations of binary black holes. By separately fitting the early inspiral and final ringdown stages, we calculate the posterior distributions for the masses and spins of the two initial and the final black holes. This yields posterior distributions for the change in the area and thus a statistical test of the validity of the area increase law. We illustrate this method with a GW150914-like binary black hole waveform calculated using numerical relativity, and detector sensitivities representative of both the first observing run and the design configuration of Advanced LIGO. We obtain a $\sim74.6\%$ probability that the simulated signal is consistent with the area theorem with current sensitivity, improving to $\sim99.9\%$ when Advanced LIGO reaches design sensitivity. An important ingredient in our test is a method of estimating when the post-merger signal is well-fit by a damped sinusoid ringdown waveform.
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No evidence for deviations from general relativity is found in LIGO-Virgo binary black hole events, with improved constraints on waveform parameters, graviton mass, and ringdown properties.
Exact Hawking area law from black hole mergers restricts quantum gravity to singular Ricci-flat or specific regular black holes in Stelle and nonlocal theories, derives the standard entropy-area law, and realizes Barrow fractal black holes.
GW250114 data confirm the remnant black hole ringdown frequencies lie within 30% of Kerr predictions and that the final horizon area is larger than the sum of the progenitors' areas to high credibility.
citing papers explorer
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Testing the no-hair theorem with GW150914
Ringdown analysis of GW150914 with overtones measures remnant mass and spin consistent with a Kerr black hole, supporting the no-hair theorem at the 10% level.
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Tests of General Relativity with Binary Black Holes from the second LIGO-Virgo Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog
No evidence for deviations from general relativity is found in LIGO-Virgo binary black hole events, with improved constraints on waveform parameters, graviton mass, and ringdown properties.
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Hawking area law in quantum gravity
Exact Hawking area law from black hole mergers restricts quantum gravity to singular Ricci-flat or specific regular black holes in Stelle and nonlocal theories, derives the standard entropy-area law, and realizes Barrow fractal black holes.
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GW250114: testing Hawking's area law and the Kerr nature of black holes
GW250114 data confirm the remnant black hole ringdown frequencies lie within 30% of Kerr predictions and that the final horizon area is larger than the sum of the progenitors' areas to high credibility.