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Constraining the Swift Memory Burden Effect with GW250114-like Events

Chen Yuan, Richard Brito

TL;DR

The paper investigates the swift memory burden (SMB) hypothesis for black hole ringdown by developing a minimal SMB-inspired single-mode model that adds a frequency shift and suppression to the standard quasinormal mode spectrum. It constrains the SMB parameter $p$ using a Bayesian analysis of the high-SNR GW250114 ringdown data and forecasts how CE/ET could tighten this bound via a Fisher-matrix approach that includes a frequency-shift parameter $\delta f$ for the 220 mode. The results show a conservative lower bound $\log_{10} p \gtrsim 2$ from current data and a prospective bound $\log_{10} p \gtrsim 3$ for next-generation detectors, implying the SMB suppression must be weak near the unburdened resonance. The findings demonstrate that SMB effects can be probed with existing observations and that future detectors will provide substantially more stringent tests of the SMB framework and the Kerr QNM spectrum.

Abstract

Black hole spectroscopy allows to infer the properties of the remnant of a binary black hole coalescence. Motivated by the recent proposal that a black hole's information load can alter its classical response to small perturbations, an effect known as the swift memory burden, we develop a minimal phenomenological framework to analyze the ringdown of a binary black hole merger and confront it with the data from the GW250114 event. We perform a Bayesian analysis combining the frequencies of the (220) and (440) quasi-normal modes and obtain a lower bound $\log_{10}p \gtrsim 2$, where $p$ controls how the gaps reopen when the black hole's master mode occupation departs from the critical value. Moreover, using a Fisher information matrix (high signal-to-noise ratio) approximation, we forecast the lower bound $\log_{10}p \gtrsim 3$ for a GW250114-like event observed with Cosmic Explorer or Einstein Telescope. Our results disfavour rapid gap reopening, shedding light on how the swift memory burden effect can be probed with current and next-generation detectors.

Constraining the Swift Memory Burden Effect with GW250114-like Events

TL;DR

The paper investigates the swift memory burden (SMB) hypothesis for black hole ringdown by developing a minimal SMB-inspired single-mode model that adds a frequency shift and suppression to the standard quasinormal mode spectrum. It constrains the SMB parameter using a Bayesian analysis of the high-SNR GW250114 ringdown data and forecasts how CE/ET could tighten this bound via a Fisher-matrix approach that includes a frequency-shift parameter for the 220 mode. The results show a conservative lower bound from current data and a prospective bound for next-generation detectors, implying the SMB suppression must be weak near the unburdened resonance. The findings demonstrate that SMB effects can be probed with existing observations and that future detectors will provide substantially more stringent tests of the SMB framework and the Kerr QNM spectrum.

Abstract

Black hole spectroscopy allows to infer the properties of the remnant of a binary black hole coalescence. Motivated by the recent proposal that a black hole's information load can alter its classical response to small perturbations, an effect known as the swift memory burden, we develop a minimal phenomenological framework to analyze the ringdown of a binary black hole merger and confront it with the data from the GW250114 event. We perform a Bayesian analysis combining the frequencies of the (220) and (440) quasi-normal modes and obtain a lower bound , where controls how the gaps reopen when the black hole's master mode occupation departs from the critical value. Moreover, using a Fisher information matrix (high signal-to-noise ratio) approximation, we forecast the lower bound for a GW250114-like event observed with Cosmic Explorer or Einstein Telescope. Our results disfavour rapid gap reopening, shedding light on how the swift memory burden effect can be probed with current and next-generation detectors.
Paper Structure (6 sections, 10 equations, 1 figure)

This paper contains 6 sections, 10 equations, 1 figure.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. swift memory burden
  3. Peak shift due to SMB
  4. Bayesian inference based on GW250114
  5. Fisher Matrix Forecasts for GW250114-like Events
  6. Summary and discussion

Figures (1)

  • Figure 1: Left panel: Posterior constraints on the SMB model parameters using the GW250114 event data (blue and orange), together with a Fisher-matrix forecast for a GW250114-like source observed by Cosmic Explorer. Blue: LVK posterior for GW250114 combining both the 220 and 440 modes data; orange: including only the 220 mode data. Right panel: Probability distribution of the QNM frequency deviation parameter $\delta f$, for the 220 mode, obtained from the Fisher-matrix forecast for a GW250114-like source observed by CE/ET. The red dashed line marks the mean value.