Excitation factors for horizonless compact objects: long-lived modes, echoes, and greybody factors

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Main Authors: Rosato, Romeo Felice, Biswas, Shauvik, Chakraborty, Sumanta, Pani, Paolo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Rosato, Romeo Felice
Biswas, Shauvik
Chakraborty, Sumanta
Pani, Paolo
author_facet Rosato, Romeo Felice
Biswas, Shauvik
Chakraborty, Sumanta
Pani, Paolo
contents We present an analytical and numerical investigation of the quasinormal excitation factors of ultracompact horizonless objects. These systems possess long lived quasinormal modes with extremely small imaginary parts, originating from the effective cavity between the photon sphere and the object's interior. We show that the excitation of such modes is strongly suppressed, scaling with the imaginary part of their frequency, and therefore they contribute to the waveform only at very late times. This hierarchy naturally explains the structure of echo signals: the prompt ringdown is dominated by standard light ring modes, the early echoes arise from moderately damped cavity modes, and only the latest echoes are governed by long lived modes. Based on this, we propose a practical ringdown waveform model based on a superposition of ordinary black hole quasinormal modes and cavity modes, which captures the complexity of the ringdown of horizonless ultracompact objects. We further demonstrate that the combination of small excitation factors and weak damping enhances the robustness of long lived modes against localized perturbations, in contrast to the spectral instabilities affecting standard black hole quasinormal modes. Finally, we extend the analysis of greybody factors to exotic compact objects and wormholes, showing that they remain stable under small deformations of the effective potential and thus represent robust observables. Our results provide a unified framework for understanding excitation, stability, and echoes in ultracompact horizonless objects, with direct implications for their spectral properties and gravitational wave signatures.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_08692
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Excitation factors for horizonless compact objects: long-lived modes, echoes, and greybody factors
Rosato, Romeo Felice
Biswas, Shauvik
Chakraborty, Sumanta
Pani, Paolo
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
We present an analytical and numerical investigation of the quasinormal excitation factors of ultracompact horizonless objects. These systems possess long lived quasinormal modes with extremely small imaginary parts, originating from the effective cavity between the photon sphere and the object's interior. We show that the excitation of such modes is strongly suppressed, scaling with the imaginary part of their frequency, and therefore they contribute to the waveform only at very late times. This hierarchy naturally explains the structure of echo signals: the prompt ringdown is dominated by standard light ring modes, the early echoes arise from moderately damped cavity modes, and only the latest echoes are governed by long lived modes. Based on this, we propose a practical ringdown waveform model based on a superposition of ordinary black hole quasinormal modes and cavity modes, which captures the complexity of the ringdown of horizonless ultracompact objects. We further demonstrate that the combination of small excitation factors and weak damping enhances the robustness of long lived modes against localized perturbations, in contrast to the spectral instabilities affecting standard black hole quasinormal modes. Finally, we extend the analysis of greybody factors to exotic compact objects and wormholes, showing that they remain stable under small deformations of the effective potential and thus represent robust observables. Our results provide a unified framework for understanding excitation, stability, and echoes in ultracompact horizonless objects, with direct implications for their spectral properties and gravitational wave signatures.
title Excitation factors for horizonless compact objects: long-lived modes, echoes, and greybody factors
topic General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.08692