PreprintarXiv licencearXiv
On the Interpretation of Tests of the Horizon Area Law
Abstract
This Letter investigates gravitational-wave tests of the horizon area law. Although they provide a striking consistency check of general relativity (GR), these tests rely on models that assume GR, making their interpretation inherently model dependent. We show with a specific example---simulations of merging boson stars---that exotic compact objects can mimic merging black holes and pass an area-law test at a confidence as high as ∼ 92% despite not even having event horizons.
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BibTeX
@misc{vangstein2026interpretation,
title = {{On the Interpretation of Tests of the Horizon Area Law}},
author = {Selma Vangstein and Christopher J. Moore},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.36162},
eprint = {2610.36162},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.36162},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - On the Interpretation of Tests of the Horizon Area Law
AU - Selma Vangstein
AU - Christopher J. Moore
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/26
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.36162
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.36162
AB - This Letter investigates gravitational-wave tests of the horizon area law. Although they provide a striking consistency check of general relativity (GR), these tests rely on models that assume GR, making their interpretation inherently model dependent. We show with a specific example---simulations of merging boson stars---that exotic compact objects can mimic merging black holes and pass an area-law test at a confidence as high as ∼ 92% despite not even having event horizons.
ER -