Direct waves in filtered Schwarzschild ringdown are the anti-causal filter-pole contribution sourced by near-horizon trajectory dynamics and do not vanish.
J., Chen, Y., & Sun, L
9 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.
abstract
The horizon of a black hole, the "surface of no return", is characterized by its rotation frequency $\Omega_H$ and surface gravity $\kappa$. A striking signature is that any infalling object appears to orbit at $\Omega_H$ due to frame dragging, while its emitted signals decay exponentially at a rate set by $\kappa$ as a consequence of gravitational redshift. Recent theoretical work predicts that the merger phase of gravitational waves from binary black hole coalescences carries direct imprints of the remnant horizon's properties, via a "direct wave" component that (i) oscillates near $2\Omega_H$, reflecting the horizon's frame dragging and the dominant quadrupole nature of the gravitational radiation, and (ii) decays at an increasing rate characterized by $\kappa$, with additional screening from the black hole's potential barrier. In this paper, we report observational evidence for the direct wave in GW250114, with a 90\% credible matched-filter signal-to-noise ratio of $15.8^{+0.1}_{-0.5}$ ($17.1^{+0.1}_{-0.4}$) in the LIGO Hanford (Livingston) detector. The measured properties are in full agreement with theoretical predictions. These findings establish a new observational channel to directly measure frame-dragging effects in black hole ergospheres and explore (near-)horizon physics in dynamical, strong-gravity regimes.
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citation-polarity summary
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Numerical relativity analysis shows the direct wave frequency in binary black hole mergers correlates with horizon frequency only incidentally at χ_f ≈ 0.7 and has evolving damping time, making it unsuitable as a probe of remnant horizon properties or for testing Hawking's area law.
A gravitational-wave method infers the Kerr-equivalent horizon area from direct waves in the near-merger signal of GW250114, yielding consistency with the Kerr remnant and a new test of Hawking's area law.
Finite post-peak detector-frame windows for GW250114 yield a stable common-remnant Kerr interpretation after calibration on synthetic waveforms and robustness checks.
LILA can detect IMBH binaries at redshifts 20-30, IMRIs, and provide months-to-years early warnings with high-SNR events for gravity tests.
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.
The prompt response is ~1.2 times stronger than quasinormal mode excitation during inspiral and enables 99% accurate reconstruction of the full inspiral-merger-ringdown waveform when combined with other components.
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.
citing papers explorer
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Foundations of Direct Waves in Schwarzschild Ringdown
Direct waves in filtered Schwarzschild ringdown are the anti-causal filter-pole contribution sourced by near-horizon trajectory dynamics and do not vanish.
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The Direct Wave is Not a Meaningful Test of Horizon Properties
Numerical relativity analysis shows the direct wave frequency in binary black hole mergers correlates with horizon frequency only incidentally at χ_f ≈ 0.7 and has evolving damping time, making it unsuitable as a probe of remnant horizon properties or for testing Hawking's area law.
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Measuring a Black Hole's Area Immediately after Merger: A Direct-Wave Test of Hawking's Area Law
A gravitational-wave method infers the Kerr-equivalent horizon area from direct waves in the near-merger signal of GW250114, yielding consistency with the Kerr remnant and a new test of Hawking's area law.
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Deterministic Trust Regions for Finite-Window Black-Hole Spectroscopy in GW250114
Finite post-peak detector-frame windows for GW250114 yield a stable common-remnant Kerr interpretation after calibration on synthetic waveforms and robustness checks.
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Black Hole Binary Detection Landscape for the Laser Interferometer Lunar Antenna (LILA): Signal-to-Noise Calculations & Science Cases
LILA can detect IMBH binaries at redshifts 20-30, IMRIs, and provide months-to-years early warnings with high-SNR events for gravity tests.
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Ringdown Analysis of GW250114 with Orthonormal Modes
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.
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Prompt Response from Plunging Sources in Schwarzschild Spacetime
The prompt response is ~1.2 times stronger than quasinormal mode excitation during inspiral and enables 99% accurate reconstruction of the full inspiral-merger-ringdown waveform when combined with other components.
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Modeling Direct Waves in Binary Black Hole Ringdowns
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.
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