Paper detail

Signatures of Extended Theories of Gravity in Black Hole Oscillations

In general relativity, the Kerr metric uniquely represents the geometry surrounding an isolated, rotating black hole. An identification of significant non-Kerr features in some astrophysical source would then provide a `smoking-gun' for the break-down of general relativity in the strong-field regime. On the other hand, Kerr black holes are common to many other theories of gravity, and thus a validation of the Kerr metric does not necessarily favour general relativity amongst all possibilities. The nature of gravitational perturbations will however differ between different theories of gravity. Future precision tests involving gravitational waves from oscillating black holes, such as identifications of the quasi-normal mode spectrum from ring-down, will thus be able to probe the underlying theory, even if the object is Kerr. Here, we write down the equations governing metric perturbations of a Kerr black hole in $f(R)$ gravity in a form that is more conducive to numerical study.