Potential Gravitational Wave Signatures of Quantum Gravity

Ivan Agullo, Vitor Cardoso, Adrián del Rio, Michele Maggiore, and Jorge Pullin

Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 041302 – Published 26 January 2021

Abstract

We show that gravitational wave astronomy has the potential to inform us on quantum aspects of black holes. Based on Bekenstein’s quantization, we find that black hole area discretization could impart observable imprints to the gravitational wave signal from a pair of merging black holes, affecting their absorption properties during inspiral and their late-time relaxation after merger. In contrast with previous results, we find that black hole rotation, ubiquitous in astrophysics, improves our ability to probe quantum effects. Our analysis shows that gravitational wave echoes and suppressed tidal heating are signs of new physics from which the fundamental quantum of black hole area can be measured, and which are within reach of future detectors. Our results also highlight the need to derive predictions from specific quantum gravity proposals.

Received 8 August 2020
Accepted 6 January 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.041302

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitational waves Quantum aspects of black holes Quantum gravity

Gravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

Authors & Affiliations

Ivan Agullo ¹, Vitor Cardoso ², Adrián del Rio², Michele Maggiore ³, and Jorge Pullin¹

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803-4001, USA
²CENTRA, Departamento de Física, Instituto Superior Técnico—IST, Universidade de Lisboa—UL, Avenida Rovisco Pais 1, 1049 Lisboa, Portugal
³Département de Physique Théorique and Center for Astroparticle Physics, Université de Genève, 24 quai Ansermet, CH–1211 Genève 4, Switzerland