Gravitational-Wave Signatures of Nonviolent Nonlocality
Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 011401 – Published 7 January, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/yj2l-3hml
Abstract
Measurement of gravitational waves can provide precision tests of the nature of black holes and compact objects. In this Letter, we test Giddings’ nonviolent nonlocality proposal, which posits that quantum information is transferred via a nonlocal interaction that generates metric perturbations around black holes. In contrast to firewalls, these quantum fluctuations would be spread out over a larger distance range—up to a Schwarzschild radius away. In this Letter, we model the modification to the gravitational waveform from nonviolent nonlocality. We modify the nonspinning EOBNRv2 effective one body waveform to include metric perturbations that are due to a random Gaussian process. We find that the waveform exhibits random deviations which are particularly important in the late inspiral-plunge phase. We find an optimal dephasing parameter for detecting this effect with a principal component analysis. This is particularly intriguing because it predicts random phase deviations across different gravitational wave events, providing theoretical support for hierarchical tests of general relativity. We estimate the constraint on the perturbations in nonviolent nonlocality with events for the LIGO-Virgo network and for a third-generation network.
