Nonlinearities in Black Hole Ringdowns

Keefe Mitman; Macarena Lagos; Leo C. Stein; Sizheng Ma; Lam Hui; Yanbei Chen; Nils Deppe; François Hébert; Lawrence E. Kidder; Jordan Moxon; Mark A. Scheel; Saul A. Teukolsky; William Throwe; Nils L. Vu

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.081402

Nonlinearities in Black Hole Ringdowns

Keefe Mitman, Macarena Lagos, Leo C. Stein, Sizheng Ma, Lam Hui, Yanbei Chen, Nils Deppe, François Hébert, Lawrence E. Kidder, Jordan Moxon, Mark A. Scheel, Saul A. Teukolsky, William Throwe, Nils L. Vu

Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

104 Scopus citations

Abstract

The gravitational wave strain emitted by a perturbed black hole (BH) ringing down is typically modeled analytically using first-order BH perturbation theory. In this Letter, we show that second-order effects are necessary for modeling ringdowns from BH merger simulations. Focusing on the strain's (ℓm)=(4,4) angular harmonic, we show the presence of a quadratic effect across a range of binary BH mass ratios that agrees with theoretical expectations. We find that the quadratic (4,4) mode's amplitude exhibits quadratic scaling with the fundamental (2,2) mode - its parent mode. The nonlinear mode's amplitude is comparable to or even larger than that of the linear (4,4) mode. Therefore, correctly modeling the ringdown of higher harmonics - improving mode mismatches by up to 2 orders of magnitude - requires the inclusion of nonlinear effects.

Original language	English
Article number	081402
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Volume	130
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.081402
State	Published - Feb 24 2023

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10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.081402

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title = "Nonlinearities in Black Hole Ringdowns",

abstract = "The gravitational wave strain emitted by a perturbed black hole (BH) ringing down is typically modeled analytically using first-order BH perturbation theory. In this Letter, we show that second-order effects are necessary for modeling ringdowns from BH merger simulations. Focusing on the strain's (ℓm)=(4,4) angular harmonic, we show the presence of a quadratic effect across a range of binary BH mass ratios that agrees with theoretical expectations. We find that the quadratic (4,4) mode's amplitude exhibits quadratic scaling with the fundamental (2,2) mode - its parent mode. The nonlinear mode's amplitude is comparable to or even larger than that of the linear (4,4) mode. Therefore, correctly modeling the ringdown of higher harmonics - improving mode mismatches by up to 2 orders of magnitude - requires the inclusion of nonlinear effects.",

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AU - Mitman, Keefe

AU - Lagos, Macarena

AU - Stein, Leo C.

AU - Ma, Sizheng

AU - Hui, Lam

AU - Chen, Yanbei

AU - Deppe, Nils

AU - Hébert, François

AU - Kidder, Lawrence E.

AU - Moxon, Jordan

AU - Scheel, Mark A.

AU - Teukolsky, Saul A.

AU - Throwe, William

AU - Vu, Nils L.

PY - 2023/2/24

Y1 - 2023/2/24

N2 - The gravitational wave strain emitted by a perturbed black hole (BH) ringing down is typically modeled analytically using first-order BH perturbation theory. In this Letter, we show that second-order effects are necessary for modeling ringdowns from BH merger simulations. Focusing on the strain's (ℓm)=(4,4) angular harmonic, we show the presence of a quadratic effect across a range of binary BH mass ratios that agrees with theoretical expectations. We find that the quadratic (4,4) mode's amplitude exhibits quadratic scaling with the fundamental (2,2) mode - its parent mode. The nonlinear mode's amplitude is comparable to or even larger than that of the linear (4,4) mode. Therefore, correctly modeling the ringdown of higher harmonics - improving mode mismatches by up to 2 orders of magnitude - requires the inclusion of nonlinear effects.

AB - The gravitational wave strain emitted by a perturbed black hole (BH) ringing down is typically modeled analytically using first-order BH perturbation theory. In this Letter, we show that second-order effects are necessary for modeling ringdowns from BH merger simulations. Focusing on the strain's (ℓm)=(4,4) angular harmonic, we show the presence of a quadratic effect across a range of binary BH mass ratios that agrees with theoretical expectations. We find that the quadratic (4,4) mode's amplitude exhibits quadratic scaling with the fundamental (2,2) mode - its parent mode. The nonlinear mode's amplitude is comparable to or even larger than that of the linear (4,4) mode. Therefore, correctly modeling the ringdown of higher harmonics - improving mode mismatches by up to 2 orders of magnitude - requires the inclusion of nonlinear effects.

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Nonlinearities in Black Hole Ringdowns

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