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Searching for Near-Horizon Quantum Structures in the Binary Black-Hole Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background

Du, Song Ming and Chen, Yanbei (2018) Searching for Near-Horizon Quantum Structures in the Binary Black-Hole Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background. Physical Review Letters, 121 (5). Art. No. 051105. ISSN 0031-9007. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.051105. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20180803-092655493

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Abstract

Quantum gravity corrections have been speculated to lead to modifications to space-time geometry near black-hole horizons. Such structures may reflect gravitational waves, causing echoes that follow the main gravitational waves from binary black-hole coalescence. By studying two phenomenological models of the near-horizon structures under the Schwarzschild approximation, we show that such echoes, if they exist, will give rise to a stochastic gravitational-wave background, which is very substantial if the near-horizon structure has a near-unity reflectivity for gravitational waves, readily detectable by Advanced LIGO. In case the reflectivity is much less than unity, the background will mainly be arising from the first echo, with a level proportional to the power reflectivity of the near-horizon structure, but robust against uncertainties in the location and the shape of the structure—as long as it is localized and close to the horizon. Sensitivity of third-generation detectors allows the detection of a background that corresponds to power reflectivity ∼3×10^(−3), if uncertainties in the binary black-hole merger rate can be removed. We note that the echoes do alter the f^(2/3) power law of the background spectra at low frequencies, which is rather robust against uncertainties.


Item Type:Article
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.051105DOIArticle
https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.10947arXivDiscussion Paper
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Chen, Yanbei0000-0002-9730-9463
Additional Information:© 2018 American Physical Society. Received 20 January 2018; revised manuscript received 7 May 2018; published 3 August 2018. This work is supported by NSF Grants No. PHY-1708212, No. PHY-1404569, and No. PHY-1708213, and the Brinson Foundation. We thank Yiqiu Ma, Zachary Mark, and Aaron Zimmerman for discussions, in particular Z. M. and A. Z. for sharing insights on the echoes. We are grateful to Eric Thrane and Xing-Jiang Zhu for providing feedback on the manuscript.
Group:Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics, Astronomy Department
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
NSFPHY-1708212
NSFPHY-1404569
NSFPHY-1708213
Brinson FoundationUNSPECIFIED
Issue or Number:5
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.051105
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20180803-092655493
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20180803-092655493
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:88561
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: Tony Diaz
Deposited On:03 Aug 2018 17:03
Last Modified:16 Nov 2021 00:27

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