Ringdown analysis of rotating black holes in effective field theory extensions of general relativity
Phys. Rev. D 113, 044039 – Published 17 February, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/k3hv-cqfn
Abstract
Quasinormal modes of rapidly rotating black holes were recently computed in a generic effective-field-theory extension of general relativity with higher-derivative corrections. We exploit this breakthrough to perform the most complete search for signatures of new physics in black hole spectra to date. We construct a template that describes the postmerger gravitational-wave emission in comparable-mass binary black hole mergers at current detector sensitivity, notably including isospectrality breaking. The analysis of all events with detectable quasinormal-driven ringdown signatures yields no evidence of higher-derivative corrections in the spectra, and we set an upper bound on the length scale of new physics. Looking ahead, our scheme enables new studies on the capabilities of future detectors to robustly search for signatures of new gravitational physics.
