The subtle vibrations of black holes, known as quasinormal modes, reveal crucial information about these enigmatic objects, and recent research explores how surrounding matter alters these signals. Erdinç Ulaş Saka from Istanbul University leads a team that investigates a specific black hole model supported by a halo of dark matter, described by a Dehnen-type distribution. The team discovers that this dark matter halo gently modifies the black hole’s characteristic ringdown spectrum, the unique pattern of vibrations emitted as the black hole settles down after a disturbance, without causing dramatic changes or instability. This work demonstrates that the presence of dark matter, even in significant quantities, does not necessarily lead to exotic or unpredictable behaviour in black hole systems, offering valuable insights into the interplay between these cosmic giants and their environments.
Black Hole Ringdown and Quasinormal Modes
The study of black holes increasingly focuses on quasinormal modes, the characteristic frequencies at which a black hole vibrates after a disturbance. These vibrations reveal fundamental properties of these objects and are crucial for testing general relativity and interpreting gravitational wave signals. Research explores how quasinormal modes change in alternative theories of gravity and scenarios involving exotic black holes, combining numerical simulations with analytical techniques to understand realistic astrophysical black holes. The study of these vibrations is directly relevant to gravitational wave astronomy, as signals detected by observatories such as LIGO and Virgo include the ringdown phase, requiring accurate models of quasinormal modes for interpretation.,.
Dark Matter Haloes and Black Hole Ringdown
Scientists are meticulously studying quasinormal modes in a black hole model supported by a halo of dark matter, extending previous work to encompass higher-order overtones. The research demonstrates that the presence of the halo parameter breaks the symmetry observed in vacuum, meaning the black hole’s vibrational spectrum changes depending on the halo’s characteristics. Analysis reveals a moderate dependence of the fundamental modes on this halo parameter, with an even weaker effect observed in the overtones, which converge as the halo parameter increases. Researchers employed advanced numerical techniques to compute these higher-order modes, revealing a clear splitting between the two axial sectors of the gravitational perturbation, indicating the halo’s influence on the black hole’s response to disturbances. Importantly, experiments revealed no enhancement or rapid growth of overtone amplitudes, suggesting the halo does not induce the strong near-horizon effects seen in some other theoretical black hole models.,.
Dark Matter Modifies Black Hole Quasinormal Modes
This research presents a detailed analysis of gravitational disturbances, known as quasinormal modes, around a black hole supported by a surrounding halo of dark matter. The team successfully computed these modes, focusing on both the fundamental frequency and a series of higher-order overtones, and demonstrated that the presence of the dark matter halo modifies all quasinormal frequencies, though the effect remains moderate. Notably, the spacing between successive overtones decreases as the halo parameter increases, indicating a subtle shift in the spectrum. The investigation also revealed that the dark matter halo causes a breaking of isospectrality, meaning the two axial sectors of the perturbation analysis are no longer identical, but this deviation remains small. The findings suggest that the dark matter halo introduces a gentle deformation to the black hole’s ringdown signal, modifying the spectrum in a controlled manner without inducing disruptive effects.,.
Dark Matter Halo Modifies Black Hole Vibrations
Scientists have meticulously studied quasinormal modes, characteristic vibrations of black holes, in a black hole model supported by a dark-matter halo, extending previous work to encompass higher-order overtones. The research demonstrates that the presence of the halo parameter breaks the symmetry observed in vacuum, meaning the black hole’s vibrational spectrum changes depending on the halo’s characteristics. Analysis reveals a moderate dependence of the fundamental modes on this halo parameter, with an even weaker effect observed in the overtones, which converge as the halo parameter increases. Researchers computed the complex frequencies of these higher-order modes using advanced numerical techniques, revealing a clear splitting between the two axial sectors of the gravitational perturbation, indicating the halo’s influence on the black hole’s response to disturbances.
Importantly, experiments revealed no enhancement or rapid growth of overtone amplitudes, suggesting the halo does not induce the strong near-horizon effects seen in some other theoretical black hole models. Measurements confirm that while the fundamental modes provide a reliable description of the late-time ringdown, the overtones contain additional information about the surrounding matter distribution and the internal structure of the geometry. This work extends the analysis beyond fundamental ringdown modes, assessing the sensitivity of higher-order modes to the halo scale and clarifying the extent to which environmental effects become more pronounced at higher damping rates.
👉 More information
🗞 Regular black hole sourced by the Dehnen-type distribution of matter: The sound of the event horizon
🧠 ArXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.08904
