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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Plunge-merger-ringdown tests of general relativity with GW250114

Leonardo Grimaldi1,*, Elisa Maggio2,1, Lorenzo Pompili3,1, and Alessandra Buonanno1,4

  • *Contact author: leonardo.grimaldi@aei.mpg.de
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Phys. Rev. D 113, L061506 – Published 27 March, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/g19c-734l

Abstract

The binary black hole signal GW250114, the clearest gravitational wave detected to date, offers a unique opportunity to test general relativity in the relativistic strong-gravity regime. How well does GW250114 agree with Einstein’s predictions in the plunge-merger-ringdown stage? To address this point, we constrain deviations from general relativity across the plunge-merger-ringdown stage of spin-precessing binaries with a parametrized waveform model within the effective-one-body formalism. We find that deviations from the peak gravitational-wave amplitude and instantaneous frequency of the (ℓ,|m|)=(2,2) mode are constrained to about 10% and 4%, respectively, at 90% credible level. These constraints are, respectively, 2 and 4 times more stringent than those obtained by analyzing GW150914. We also constrain, for the first time, the instantaneous frequency of the (ℓ,|m|)=(4,4) mode at merger to about 6% and the time at which the gravitational-wave amplitude peaks to about 5 ms. These results provide exquisitely precise tests of general relativity in the strong-gravity regime and can be employed to constrain extensions of Einstein’s theory.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, L061506– Published 27 March, 2026
  • Received 23 January 2026
  • Accepted 25 February 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by the Max Planck Society.

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