Testing Einstein’s theory of gravity with simulations of tidal disruption events

Abstract

Although Einstein’s theory of gravity has already passed many tests in the last century, it is still one of the most discussed theories in physics. Its strong-field regime can only be accessed through the study of ultra-compact objects like, e.g., black holes. In this report, we propose using black holes with metrics that deviate from the standard Kerr solution in order to probe the strong-field regime of gravity. For measuring the effects induced by the deviation, we study tidal disruption events from which large amounts of energy in electromagnetic and gravitational radiation are released. We developed an approach to implement arbitrary metrics that are not solutions of Einstein’s equations into the framework of a fully general relativistic code. The results from our numerical simulations can then be compared with data from actual observed events and place constraints on the metric deviation parameters, hence assessing the validity of general relativity in gravity’s very extremes.