Black Hole Ringdown Seen in Photon Polarization Swings
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arXiv
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| Auteurs principaux: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Publié: |
2026
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| _version_ | 1866911672949538816 |
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| author | Huang, Jiewei Hou, Yehui Zhong, Zhen Guo, Minyong Chen, Bin |
| author_facet | Huang, Jiewei Hou, Yehui Zhong, Zhen Guo, Minyong Chen, Bin |
| contents | Light propagating through a perturbed spacetime could imprint the underlying gravitational waveform directly onto electromagnetic observables. In this Letter, we develop a covariant perturbative framework for polarized photon propagation in generic curved spacetimes, and derive a compact expression for the observable polarization-angle (PA) swing during Kerr ringdown, explicitly demonstrating its time-domain locking to the quasi-normal modes. We confirm this behavior using dynamical ray-tracing calculations for a broad class of photon trajectories. Photons grazing the strong-field region exhibit an achromatic, damped PA oscillation that tracks the ringdown, with a phase set by the mode's angular structure. The swing amplitude can reach $\sim 10^{\circ}$ and leaves distinctive signatures in spatially resolved autocorrelations. These results open a new polarimetric window onto black hole mergers and ringdown. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_11499 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Black Hole Ringdown Seen in Photon Polarization Swings Huang, Jiewei Hou, Yehui Zhong, Zhen Guo, Minyong Chen, Bin High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology Light propagating through a perturbed spacetime could imprint the underlying gravitational waveform directly onto electromagnetic observables. In this Letter, we develop a covariant perturbative framework for polarized photon propagation in generic curved spacetimes, and derive a compact expression for the observable polarization-angle (PA) swing during Kerr ringdown, explicitly demonstrating its time-domain locking to the quasi-normal modes. We confirm this behavior using dynamical ray-tracing calculations for a broad class of photon trajectories. Photons grazing the strong-field region exhibit an achromatic, damped PA oscillation that tracks the ringdown, with a phase set by the mode's angular structure. The swing amplitude can reach $\sim 10^{\circ}$ and leaves distinctive signatures in spatially resolved autocorrelations. These results open a new polarimetric window onto black hole mergers and ringdown. |
| title | Black Hole Ringdown Seen in Photon Polarization Swings |
| topic | High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.11499 |