Published April 16, 2025 | Version Published
Journal Article Open

Overtones and nonlinearities in binary black hole ringdowns

  • 1. ROR icon Cornell University
  • 2. ROR icon Perimeter Institute
  • 3. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 4. ROR icon Kyoto University
  • 5. ROR icon Nitto RIKEN (Japan)
  • 6. ROR icon Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics

Abstract

Using high-accuracy numerical relativity waveforms, we confirm the presence of numerous overtones of the ℓ=2, 𝑚 =2 quasinormal mode early in the ringdown of binary black hole mergers. We do this by demonstrating the stability of the mode amplitudes at different fit times, ruling out the possibility that a linear superposition of modes unphysically fits a highly nonlinear part of the waveform. We also find a number of previously unidentified subdominant second-order quasinormal modes in the (2, 2) mode. Even though these modes are mathematically nonlinear, they nevertheless confirm the validity of perturbation theory as a good approximation for describing much of the ringdown.

Copyright and License

© 2025 American Physical Society.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported in part by the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, by NSF Grants No. PHY-2207342 and No. OAC-2209655 at Cornell, and by NSF Grants No. PHY-2309211, No. PHY-2309231, and No. OAC-2209656 at Caltech. Research at Perimeter Institute is supported in part by the Government of Canada through the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and by the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Colleges and Universities. Support for this work was provided by NASA through the NASA Hubble Fellowship Grant No. HST-HF2-51562.001-A awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Incorporated, under NASA contract No. NAS5-26555. This work was also supported in part by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant No. JP23K13111 and the Hakubi project at Kyoto University.

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Additional details

Related works

Is new version of
Discussion Paper: arXiv:2411.11269 (arXiv)
Is supplemented by
Dataset: 10.5281/zenodo.15086488 (DOI)

Funding

Sherman Fairchild Foundation
National Science Foundation
PHY-2207342
National Science Foundation
OAC-2209655
National Science Foundation
PHY-2309211
National Science Foundation
PHY-2309231
National Science Foundation
OAC-2209656
Government of Canada
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
Ministry of Colleges and Universities
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
HST-HF2-51562.001-A
Space Telescope Science Institute
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NAS5-26555
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
JP23K13111
Kyoto University

Dates

Accepted
2025-03-07

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Astronomy Department, TAPIR, Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics, Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy (PMA)
Publication Status
Published