Searching for near-horizon quantum structures in the binary black-hole stochastic gravitational-wave background

TL;DR

This paper investigates how near-horizon quantum structures in black holes could produce detectable gravitational-wave backgrounds through echoes, potentially revealing quantum gravity effects near horizons with advanced detectors.

Contribution

It demonstrates that near-horizon quantum structures can generate a stochastic gravitational-wave background, providing a new observational avenue to probe quantum gravity effects.

Findings

Detectable gravitational-wave background from near-horizon echoes if reflectivity is near unity.

Background level proportional to the reflectivity of near-horizon structures.

Third-generation detectors can detect backgrounds corresponding to very low reflectivity (~10^{-3}).

Abstract

It has been speculated that quantum gravity corrections may lead to modifications to space-time geometry near black hole horizons. Such structures may cause reflections to gravitational waves, causing {\it echoes} that follow the main gravitational waves from binary black hole coalescence. We show that such echoes, if exist, will give rise to a stochastic gravitational-wave background, which is very substantial if the near-horizon structure has a near unity reflectivity for gravitational waves, readily detectable by Advanced LIGO. In case reflectivity is much less than unity, the background will mainly be arising from the first echo, with a level proportional to the power reflectivity of the near-horizon structure, but robust against uncertainties in the location of the structure --- as long as it is very close to the horizon. Sensitivity of third-generation detectors allows the detection of a background that corresponds to power reflectivity $\sim 10^{-3}$, if the uncertainties in the binary black-hole merger rate can be removed. We note that the echoes do alter the $f^{2/3}$ power law of the background spectra at low frequencies, which is rather robust against the uncertainties.