Not quite black holes at LIGO

Bob Holdom (University of Toronto)

February 10, 2020

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Abstract: The Einstein action should eventually be subsumed into a UV complete theory of gravity, and in such a theory there can be a new class of solutions that are not quite black holes. Black holes in nature may actually be these objects instead. One implication would be gravitational wave echoes of the ringdown in the merger waveforms observed by LIGO. Meanwhile LIGO has basically left it to outsiders to look for echoes in their data. I describe a search strategy based on the existence of evenly-spaced sharp resonances in the echo spectrum. With the caveat that I am a theorist, I present some positive findings.