Uploaded July 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Black hole spectroscopy, i.e. the measurements of the quasi normal mode spectrum of ringing black holes, provides an excellent opportunity to test general relativity in the strong gravity regime. It is expected that the LISA mission will allow spectroscopy from the mergers of massive black holes. How many spectroscopical events will LISA be able to resolve? What is the precision within which the ringdown spectrum will be constrained? We prospect answers to the above questions by simulating massive binary BH populations with different models, intended to bracket the model uncertainties on the evolution of massive black hole seeds. For each scenario, we compute the average number of expected events and the corresponding precision for spectroscopy. using a Fisher information matrix analysis. We find that for heavy seeds LISA will perform spectroscopy at the percent level with 1-to-30 events per year, depending on the model details, while spectroscopy at sub-percent level will remain challenging. On the other hand, light seeds produce events with ringing frequency outside the LISA band and do not constitute promising sources for the LISA mission.
Author and Presenter: Costantino Pacilio
Black hole spectroscopy, i.e. the measurements of the quasi normal mode spectrum of ringing black holes, provides an excellent opportunity to test general relativity in the strong gravity regime. It is expected that the LISA mission will allow spectroscopy from the mergers of massive black holes. How many spectroscopical events will LISA be able to resolve? What is the precision within which the ringdown spectrum will be constrained? We prospect answers to the above questions by simulating massive binary BH populations with different models, intended to bracket the model uncertainties on the evolution of massive black hole seeds. For each scenario, we compute the average number of expected events and the corresponding precision for spectroscopy. using a Fisher information matrix analysis. We find that for heavy seeds LISA will perform spectroscopy at the percent level with 1-to-30 events per year, depending on the model details, while spectroscopy at sub-percent level will remain challenging. On the other hand, light seeds produce events with ringing frequency outside the LISA band and do not constitute promising sources for the LISA mission.
Author and Presenter: Costantino Pacilio
