arXiv subjects

Fech Scen Khoo

Publications and source records attributed to Fech Scen Khoo.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Black holes in alternative theories of gravity

Black holes, with their strong gravitational fields, provide an important testing ground for theories of gravity beyond General Relativity. Among the many proposed alternatives, considerable recent work has focused on scalar-tensor theories in which a scalar field couples to higher-curvature terms. The black hole solutions that arise in such theories can differ significantly from the Schwarzschild and Kerr solutions of General Relativity. Characteristic properties of these black holes include instabilities, shadows, and gravitational wave spectra, which can be used to constrain the couplings of the underlying theories.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2026

Nonradial perturbations of static charged wormholes

We investigate the nonradial quasinormal-mode spectrum of static charged Ellis--Bronnikov wormholes in Einstein--Maxwell theory minimally coupled to a phantom scalar field. The background solutions are known in closed form and comprise three classes: subcritical, critical and supercritical, which all approach the extremal Reissner--Nordstr\"om geometry at the boundary of their domain of existence. We derive the linear perturbation equations for axial and polar sectors, including the coupled gravitational, electromagnetic and phantom-scalar degrees of freedom, and compute the corresponding spectra by means of a Chebyshev spectral method. The uncharged limit reproduces the known Ellis--Bronnikov spectrum and exhibits the expected electromagnetic isospectrality. For charged configurations we track the axial and polar branches across the three families of solutions and identify the effect of the charge on the damping times and oscillation frequencies. In particular, we find that charge can substantially reduce damping rates as the extremal Reissner--Nordstr\"om limit is approached. We also uncover a nonradial polar instability, most clearly visible in the fundamental $l=2$ branch for sufficiently large wormhole masses. This instability is distinct from the familiar radial Ellis--Bronnikov instability and shows that the nonradial sector imposes additional constraints on the dynamical viability of charged wormholes.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2026

Hierarchy of Angular Instabilities in Scalarized Black Holes

We investigate the stability of scalarized black holes in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet-Ricci theory along their fundamental branches. We show that initially stable solutions first lose nonspherical stability in the eikonal regime, while lower multipoles remain stable. As the branch is continued, instability extends systematically toward lower multipoles, forming an ordered hierarchy of deformation instabilities extending down to the quadrupole mode, while the dipole sector remains stable. The instability thresholds obey a common scaling law and approach finite eikonal limits, defining the boundary of the angularly stable region. We demonstrate that the previously identified quadrupole and angular-Laplacian instabilities are connected by a continuous hierarchy of instability thresholds spanning the angular sectors of the theory. This hierarchy is distinct from radial stability, which changes only at branch turning points, and reveals a previously unexplored angular organization of instabilities in scalarized black holes.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Radial perturbations of charged wormholes

Ellis-Bronnikov wormholes suffer from an unstable radial mode. Here we investigate the evolution of the unstable mode(s) for charged wormholes. We show that the instability remains in the presence of charge, but exhibits a very fast decrease to zero. We hereby make a full study of the spectrum of the unstable radial modes. For so-called supercritical wormholes, two purely imaginary unstable modes merge and continue with degenerate imaginary parts and opposite real parts. By analogy, we conjecture an analogous behavior for rotating chargeless wormholes.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Quadrupole perturbations of slowly spinning Ellis-Bronnikov wormholes

We study the axial and polar perturbations of slowly rotating Ellis-Bronnikov wormholes in General Relativity, applying a perturbative double expansion. In particular, we derive the equations for $l=2$, $M_z=2$ perturbations of these objects which are parametrized by an asymmetry parameter. The equations constitute an astrophysically interesting sector of the perturbations that contribute dominantly to the gravitational wave radiation. Moreover, calculation of these modes may exhibit potential instabilities in the quadrupole sector.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Black hole spectroscopy: from theory to experiment

The "ringdown" radiation emitted by oscillating black holes has great scientific potential. By carefully predicting the frequencies and amplitudes of black hole quasinormal modes and comparing them with gravitational-wave data from compact binary mergers we can advance our understanding of the two-body problem in general relativity, verify the predictions of the theory in the regime of strong and dynamical gravitational fields, and search for physics beyond the Standard Model or new gravitational degrees of freedom. We summarize the state of the art in our understanding of black hole quasinormal modes in general relativity and modified gravity, their excitation, and the modeling of ringdown waveforms. We also review the status of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA ringdown observations, data analysis techniques, and the bright prospects of the field in the era of LISA and next-generation ground-based gravitational-wave detectors.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Scalar Quasinormal Modes of Rotating Regular Black Holes

Quasinormal modes are characteristic signatures of compact objects. Here we consider rotating regular black holes, representing rotating generalizations of the Simpson and Visser metric. We present the spectrum of scalar quasinormal modes and compare it with the spectrum of Kerr black holes. The calculations are done using a spectral decomposition method. The scalar modes smoothly connect to the Kerr limit. Interestingly, for particularly low scaled Hawking temperatures, the dependence of the modes changes as rotation increases. A further investigation shows that the real part of the fundamental and first excited modes of the static and slowly rotating black holes (about $13\%$ of the extremal angular momentum) progresses in an opposite behavior in this low temperature region. Meanwhile the imaginary part of the modes crosses where the excited modes become longer lived than the fundamental modes. Rapid rotation however suppresses such tendency.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Quasinormal mode spectrum of rotating black holes in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet-dilaton theory

Quasinormal modes are excited during the ringdown phase of black holes after merger. Determination of quasinormal modes of rapidly rotating black holes in alternative theories of gravity has remained a challenge for a long time. Here we discuss in detail our recently developed method to extract the quasinormal modes for rapidly rotating black holes in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet-dilaton theory. We first obtain numerically the exact rapidly rotating background solutions, which also clarify their domain of existence. Then we solve the equations for the linear perturbations of the metric and the dilaton field by employing an appropriate set of boundary conditions and a spectral decomposition of the perturbation functions. The resulting spectrum agrees well with the known limits obtained for slow rotation and weak coupling, while it exhibits larger deviations for stronger coupling.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Quasinormal modes of rotating black holes in shift-symmetric Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet theory

We employ a recently developed spectral method to obtain the spectrum of quasinormal modes of rapidly rotating black holes in alternative theories of gravity and apply it to the black holes of shift-symmetric Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet theory. In this theory the quasinormal modes were recently obtained by employing perturbation theory in quadratic order in the Gauss-Bonnet coupling constant. Here we present the full non-perturbative results for the spectrum within the domain of existence of rotating black holes and compare with the perturbative results. We also compare with the quasinormal mode spectrum of rapidly rotating Einstein-dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet black holes.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Quasinormal modes of rapidly rotating Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet-dilaton black holes

Quasinormal modes of rapidly rotating black holes are crucial in understanding the ringdown phase after a merger. While for Kerr black holes these modes have been known for a long time, their calculation has remained a challenge in alternative theories of gravity. We obtain the spectrum of quasinormal modes of rapidly rotating black holes in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet-dilaton theory without resorting to perturbation theory in the coupling constant. Our approach is based on a spectral decomposition of the linear perturbations of the metric and the scalar field. The quasinormal modes agree excellently with the perturbatively known slow rotation and weak coupling limits. For large coupling, though, the spectrum changes significantly.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Quasinormal modes of rapidly rotating Ellis-Bronnikov wormholes

We present for the first time a study of the quasinormal modes of rapidly rotating Ellis-Bronnikov wormholes in General Relativity. We compute the spectrum of the wormholes using a spectral decomposition of the metric perturbations on a numerical background. We focus on the $M_z=2,3$ sector of the perturbations, and show that the triple isospectrality of the symmetric and static Ellis-Bronnikov wormhole is broken due to rotation, giving rise to a much richer spectrum than the spectrum of Kerr black holes. We do not find any instabilities for $M_z=2,3$ perturbations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Quasinormal modes of Kerr black holes using a spectral decomposition of the metric perturbations

We report a new method to calculate the quasinormal modes of rotating black holes, using a spectral decomposition to solve the partial differential equations that result from introducing linear metric perturbations to a rotating background. Our approach allows us to calculate a large sector of the quasinormal mode spectrum. In particular, we study the accuracy of the method for the $(l=2)$-led and $(l=3)$-led modes for different values of the $M_z$ azimuthal number, considering the fundamental modes as well as the first two excitations. We show that our method reproduces the Kerr fundamental modes with an accuracy of $10^{-6}$ or better for $a/M<0.8$, while it stays below $0.1\%$ for $a/M<0.98$.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Radial perturbations of Ellis-Bronnikov wormholes in slow rotation up to second order

We consider slowly rotating Ellis-Bronnikov wormholes and investigate their radial perturbations ($\mathrm{l}=0$), expanding up to second order in rotation. We present the detailed derivations in the general case, including symmetric and non-symmetric wormholes. The calculations show that the unstable mode present in the static case becomes less unstable with increasing rotation, until it reaches zero and then disappears. This indicates that wormhole solutions may become linearly mode stable at sufficiently fast rotation.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Are slowly rotating Ellis-Bronnikov wormholes stable?

We investigate the radial perturbations of Ellis-Bronnikov wormholes ($\mathrm{l}=0$) in a slowly rotating background expanded up to second order in rotation. We find indications that simple wormhole solutions such as Ellis-Bronnikov in General Relativity can be stabilized by rotation, thus favoring a viable traversable wormhole. This opens up the intriguing question whether the many other wormhole solutions with or without the support of exotic matter can become linearly mode stable when the wormhole rotates.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Quasinormal modes of slowly rotating Kerr-Newman black holes using the double series method

We calculate the spectrum of quasinormal modes of slowly rotating Kerr-Newman black holes. Using a perturbative double expansion method, second order in rotation and first order in non-radial perturbations, we obtain the system of equations that describe polar-led and axial-led perturbations. We analyse gravitational, electromagnetic and scalar fundamental modes, focusing on the $\mathrm{l}=2$ perturbations. We reproduce previous results and check that isospectrality between axial and polar-led perturbations is approximately satisfied with good accuracy. Our results show that the slow rotation approximation can be used to estimate with reasonable precision the spectrum of configurations up to 50-60$\%$ of the extremal angular momentum.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

NASA Science Mission Directorate Knowledge Graph Discovery

The size of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is growing exponentially, allowing researchers to make discoveries. However, making discoveries is challenging and time-consuming due to the size of the data catalogs, and as many concepts and data are indirectly connected. This paper proposes a pipeline to generate knowledge graphs (KGs) representing different NASA SMD domains. These KGs can be used as the basis for dataset search engines, saving researchers time and supporting them in finding new connections. We collected textual data and used several modern natural language processing (NLP) methods to create the nodes and the edges of the KGs. We explore the cross-domain connections, discuss our challenges, and provide future directions to inspire researchers working on similar challenges.

cs.IR↗

arXiv2022

$ϕ$-modes of neutron stars in a massless scalar-tensor theory

Scalar-tensor theories allow for a rich spectrum of quasinormal modes of neutron stars. The presence of the scalar field allows for polar monopole and dipole radiation, as well as for additional higher multipole modes led by the scalar field. Here we present these scalar-led $ϕ$-modes for the lowest multipoles, $l=0$, 1 and 2 for a massless scalar-tensor theory of the Brans-Dicke type, motivated by $R^2$ theory, and compare with those of a minimally coupled scalar field in general relativity. We consider a set of six realistic equations of state and extract universal relations for the modes.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Polar Quasinormal Modes of Neutron Stars in Massive Scalar-Tensor Theories

We study polar quasinormal modes of relativistic stars in scalar-tensor theories, where we include a massive gravitational scalar field and employ the standard Brans-Dicke coupling function. For the potential of the scalar field we consider a simple mass term as well as a potential associated with $R^2$ gravity. The presence of the scalar field makes the spectrum of quasinormal modes much richer than the spectrum in General Relativity. We here investigate radial modes ($l=0$) and quadrupole modes ($l=2$). The general relativistic $l=0$ normal modes turn into quasinormal modes in scalar-tensor theories, that are able to propagate outside of the stars. In addition to the pressure-led modes new scalar-led $ϕ$-modes arise. We analyze the dependence of the quasinormal mode frequencies and decay times on the scalar field mass.

gr-qc↗