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Parametrized beyond-Teukolsky framework in the time domain

Ciro De Simone1,2,*, Sebastian H. Völkel3,†, Kostas D. Kokkotas3,‡, and Salvatore Capozziello1,2,4,§

  • *Contact author: ciro.desimone@unina.it
  • †Contact author: sebastian.voelkel@uni-tuebingen.de
  • ‡Contact author: kostas.kokkotas@uni-tuebingen.de
  • §Contact author: capozziello@na.infn.it
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 064060 – Published 15 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/93dw-jlcg

Abstract

Modifications to general relativity can significantly alter the perturbative response of black holes, leaving imprints on quasinormal-mode spectra, waveform amplitudes and phases, and late-time tails. The parametrized beyond-Teukolsky framework was introduced to capture possible deviations from Kerr dynamics, but the ringdown has so far only been explored as an eigenvalue problem. We present the first time-domain implementation of this framework and perform (2+1)-dimensional scattering experiments with Gaussian wave packets. This approach provides the full linear evolution of the perturbation, from the initial prompt response through the ringdown and into the late-time regime. Using frequency-domain eigenvalue results as benchmarks, we find excellent agreement for low azimuthal numbers, while higher azimuthal numbers are affected by mode mixing, which limits the precision of the extracted modes. We further use the time-domain waveforms to estimate quadratic and mixed coefficients within the linearized modified-potential model, providing a diagnostic for the regime of validity of the linear approximation. Beyond mode frequencies, we show that the deformation parameters can strongly affect the ringdown amplitude and phase, with trends that can be understood from the near-horizon structure of the modified potential. We also analyze the late-time behavior, finding that near-horizon deformations leave the tail exponent unchanged but can substantially shift the onset of the power-law decay. These results demonstrate that time-domain evolutions provide a complementary and flexible framework for testing parametrized deviations from general relativity in black-hole perturbation theory.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 064060– Published 15 September, 2026
  • Received 31 July 2026
  • Accepted 13 August 2026
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