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arXiv · 2204.09038

Constraining spontaneous black hole scalarization in scalar-tensor-Gauss-Bonnet theories with current gravitational-wave data

Leong Khim Wong·Carlos A. R. Herdeiro·Eugen Radu
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Abstract

We examine the constraining power of current gravitational-wave data on scalar-tensor-Gauss-Bonnet theories that allow for the spontaneous scalarization of black holes. In the fiducial model that we consider, a slowly rotating black hole must scalarize if its size is comparable to the new length scale $\lambda$ that the theory introduces, although rapidly rotating black holes of any mass are effectively indistinguishable from their counterparts in general relativity. With this in mind, we use the gravitational-wave event GW190814$\,\unicode{x2014}\,$whose primary black hole has a spin that is bounded to be small, and whose signal shows no evidence of a scalarized primary$\,\unicode{x2014}\,$to rule out a narrow region of the parameter space. In particular, we find that values of ${\lambda \in [56, 96]~M_\odot}$ are strongly disfavored with a Bayes factor of $0.1$ or less. We also include a second event, GW151226, in our analysis to illustrate what information can be extracted when the spins of both components are poorly measured.

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Leong Khim Wong, Carlos A. R. Herdeiro, Eugen Radu. 2022-04-19. Constraining spontaneous black hole scalarization in scalar-tensor-Gauss-Bonnet theories with current gravitational-wave data. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.106.024008

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