Spectral method for metric perturbations of black holes: Kerr background case in general relativity

TL;DR

This paper introduces METRICS, a spectral method for calculating gravitational perturbations and quasinormal modes of Kerr black holes without decoupling equations, achieving high accuracy across various spins.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel spectral approach that solves all linearized Einstein equations simultaneously for Kerr black holes, bypassing decoupling and angular separation.

Findings

Accurately computes quasinormal mode frequencies with less than 10^{-5} relative error for spins below 0.95.

Produces metric perturbations matching Leaver's solutions with less than 1% mismatch for spins below 0.9.

Demonstrates potential for extension to non-GR theories and matter-involved black hole perturbations.

Abstract

We present a novel approach, $\textit{Metric pErTuRbations wIth speCtral methodS}$ (METRICS), to calculate the gravitational metric perturbations and the quasinormal-mode frequencies of rotating black holes of any spin without decoupling the linearized field equations. We demonstrate the method by applying it to perturbations of Kerr black holes of any spin, simultaneously solving all ten linearized Einstein equations in the Regge-Wheeler gauge through purely algebraic methods and computing the fundamental (co-rotating) quadrupole mode frequency at various spins. We moreover show that the METRICS approach is accurate and precise, yielding (i) quasinormal mode frequencies that agree with Leaver's, continuous-fraction solution with a relative fractional error smaller than $10^{-5}$ for all dimensionless spins below up to 0.95, and (ii) metric perturbations that lead to Teukolsky functions that also agree with Leaver's solution with mismatches below $1\%$ for all spins below 0.9. By not requiring the decoupling or the angular separation of the linearized field equations, the METRICS approach has the potential to be straightforwardly adapted for the computation of the quasinormal-mode frequencies of rotating black holes of any spin beyond general relativity or in the presence of matter.