We present a thorough observational investigation of the heuristic quantised ringdown model presented by Foit and Kleban (2019 Class. Quantum Grav. 36 035006). This model is based on the Bekenstein–Mukhanov conjecture, stating that the area of a black hole (BH) horizon is an integer multiple of the Planck area multiplied by a phenomenological constant, α, which can be viewed as an additional BH intrinsic parameter. Our approach is based on a time-domain analysis of the gravitational wave (GW) signals produced by the ringdown phase of binary BH mergers detected by the LIGO and Virgo collaboration. Employing a full Bayesian formalism and taking into account the complete correlation structure among the BH parameters, we show that the value of α cannot be constrained using only GW150914, in contrast to what was suggested by Foit and Kleban (2019 Class. Quantum Grav. 36 035006). We proceed to repeat the same analysis on the new GW events detected by the LIGO and Virgo Collaboration up to 1 October 2019, obtaining a combined-event measure equal to and a combined log odds ratio of 0.1 0.6, implying that current data are not informative enough to favor or discard this model against general relativity. We then show that using a population of GW150914-like simulated events—detected by the current infrastructure of ground-based detectors at their design sensitivity—it is possible to confidently falsify the quantised model or prove its validity, in which case probing α at the few % level. Finally we classify the stealth biases that may show up in a population study.

我们对 Foit 和 Kleban (2019 Class. Quantum Grav . 36 035006)提出的启发式量化衰落模型进行了彻底的观察研究。该模型基于 Bekenstein-Mukhanov 猜想，指出黑洞 (BH) 视界的面积是普朗克面积乘以现象学常数α的整数倍，该常数可被视为额外的 BH 内在参数。我们的方法基于对由 LIGO 和 Virgo 合作检测到的二元 BH 合并的振铃阶段产生的引力波 (GW) 信号的时域分析。采用完整的贝叶斯形式并考虑到 BH 参数之间的完整相关结构，我们表明α的值与 Foit 和 Kleban (2019 Class. Quantum Grav . 36 035006) 的建议相反，不能仅使用 GW150914 进行约束。我们继续对截至 2019 年 10 月 1 日由 LIGO 和 Virgo Collaboration 检测到的新 GW 事件重复相同的分析，获得等于0.1 0.6的组合事件测量值和 0.1 0.6 的组合对数优势比，这意味着当前数据没有信息量足以支持或放弃这个模型反对广义相对论。然后，我们表明，使用一组类似 GW150914 的模拟事件（由地面探测器的当前基础设施以其设计灵敏度检测到），可以自信地伪造量化模型或证明其有效性，在这种情况下探测α在百分之几的水平。最后，我们对可能出现在人口研究中的隐形偏见进行了分类。