Black hole quasinormal modes in the era of LIGO

TL;DR

This paper reviews the analysis of black hole quasinormal modes, emphasizing their importance in gravitational wave astronomy for testing gravity theories and understanding signals from black hole mergers.

Contribution

It introduces the concept and analysis methods of black hole quasinormal modes, including linear perturbation theory and numerical techniques, in the context of recent gravitational wave detections.

Findings

Quasinormal modes are crucial for interpreting gravitational wave signals.

The paper discusses numerical methods for analyzing black hole perturbations.

Implications for testing gravity theories with LIGO/Virgo data.

Abstract

After a long wait, gravitational wave astronomy has finally begun. Binary black hole mergers are being detected by LIGO and Virgo, and theorists are starting to receive a wealth of data to be analized. At this point we can at long last begin to test alternative theories of gravity and different models of compact objects. One powerful tool to do this is the perturbative analysis of background spacetimes. The objective of this brief review is to introduce the notion and analysis of black hole quasinormal modes, starting from the linear perturbation theory and including a brief discussion of numerical methods and astrophysical implications in the gravitational wave signals recently detected. With these basic ingredients, more sophisticated analyses and applications are possible.