Probing modified gravitational-wave dispersion with bursts from eccentric black-hole binaries

When black-hole binaries are eccentric, their gravitational-wave emission is very different from what we are used to. Instead of the usual oscillations, one sees a series of discrete bursts, occurring each time the two black holes pass close to one another. These bursts may reveal important details about general relativity. Crucially, GR predicts that gravitational waves at all frequencies travel at the same speed, and eccentric bursts provide an excellent way to test this.

N. Loutrel, A. Bailey, D. Gerosa.
arXiv:2509.01614 [gr-qc].