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Causality Constraints on Black Holes beyond GR

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arxiv 2205.08551 v2 pith:JGAYGRRT submitted 2022-05-17 hep-th gr-qc

classification hep-thgr-qc
keywords blackholescausalityconstraintscutoffgravitationaltheorieswave
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We derive causality constraints on the simplest scalar-tensor theories in which black holes differ from what General Relativity predicts, a scalar coupled to the Gauss-Bonnet or the Chern-Simons terms. Demanding that time advances are unobservable within the regime of validity of these effective field theories, we find their cutoff must be parametrically of the same size as the inverse Schwarzschild radius of the black holes for which the non-standard effects are of order one. For astrophysical black holes within the range of current gravitational wave detectors, this means a cutoff length at the km. We further explore the leading additional higher-dimensional operators potentially associated with the scale of UV completion and discuss their phenomenological implications for gravitational wave science.

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Cited by 8 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Living on the Edge of Effective Field Theory: Near-Extremal Black Holes in Quadratic Gravity

    gr-qc 2026-08 conditional novelty 8.0 of 10

    Near-extremal black holes in dynamical Chern-Simons gravity have a regular extremal endpoint matching the deformed near-horizon Kerr throat, while in scalar Gauss-Bonnet gravity the extremal throat is disconnected fro...

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  3. UV completions of scalar-tensor EFTs

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  4. The EFT Bootstrap at Finite $M_{PL}$

    hep-th 2025-01 conditional novelty 7.0 of 10

    One-loop gravity effects make forward-limit positivity bounds ill-defined for massless scalar-gravity EFTs, forcing non-forward dispersion relations that shift the tree-level bounds by order-one factors.

  5. Can weak-gravity, causality-violation arguments constrain modified gravity?

    hep-th 2025-06 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

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  6. Ringdown Analysis of Rotating Black Holes in Effective Field Theory Extensions of General Relativity

    gr-qc 2024-11 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    No evidence of higher-derivative EFT corrections in black hole ringdown spectra from GWTC-3; new physics length scale constrained to ℓ ≲ 35 km.

  7. Causality bounds from charged shockwaves in 5d

    hep-th 2024-12 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Causality on 5d charged shockwaves gives positivity bounds on four-derivative Einstein-Maxwell couplings, with gravity weakening the pure-field-theory bounds and near-horizon photons providing the strongest constraints.

  8. Can We Detect Deviations from Einstein's Gravity in Black Hole Ringdowns?

    gr-qc 2024-11 conditional novelty 4.0 of 10

    Higher-derivative corrections to black hole ringdown spectra and quadratic modes are either absent or suppressed below detectability once causality is enforced, leaving Einstein's gravity as the sole observable description.

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