Published March 7, 2026 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Power-Law Post-Merger Decay in Gravitational Wave Signals: Evidence for Fractional Dynamics Across Three Gravitational Regimes

Authors/Creators

Description

We analyze post-merger gravitational wave signals from 486 events in the GWOSC catalog, identifying 109 measurements meeting quality thresholds (SNR >= 4.0, valid merger identification). Comparing exponential decay (standard GR ringdown) against power-law decay predicted by an 11-field coupled PDE framework with fractional Laplacian exponent alpha = 6/5, we find the coupled PDE model preferred in 73/109 measurements (67.0%, binomial p = 9.16 x 10^-5). The preference strengthens with signal quality: win rates increase from 63% (SNR 4-6) to 89% (SNR > 10). Combined with 88/124 galactic rotation curve fits (p = 1.68 x 10^-6) and solar-system GR recovery (epsilon < 1.15 x 10^-4), Fisher combined significance across 233 independent measurements reaches 5.8 sigma with zero free parameters. All code and data included for full reproducibility.

Files

fig1_dbic_distribution.pdf

Files (669.0 kB)

Name Size Download all
md5:c36d2259bf35727236e8923f02843422
20.6 kB Preview Download
md5:f687bff8094171b99ec22ccc20e71962
26.2 kB Preview Download
md5:fa3c61305130afeb4d1983b894828747
44.7 kB Preview Download
md5:5df7c64528e191ba51e740d1b53c4199
18.8 kB Preview Download
md5:09dcdf7833748f5cc0292451f232fbb8
30.2 kB Preview Download
md5:42524eb2e32d8ebcb725519458786b0e
12.7 kB Download
md5:134e5cbe5af9819dd915b989ede5bc98
282.3 kB Preview Download
md5:7b0a8f9b74097d21d8ea9a7e08571193
15.8 kB Download
md5:d8d1307846b996bd6887ecfa5bb55b87
217.7 kB Preview Download

Additional details