Physics
A search for boost-holonomy relics in the gravitational-wave catalog
A boost-holonomy relic leaves an exact mass-scaling signature in gravitational waves. The corrected catalog and posterior cuts return a null, with 82 of 120 Stage-3 pairs surviving and a shared-base cluster at p = 1.000.
Jonathan Schemoul
A time machine’s unmanufacturable organ is a boost-holonomy identification: a locally flat region whose covering space is quotiented by a Lorentz boost. A gravitational wave crossing the seam has both inferred source-frame masses scaled by the same factor, leaving the mass ratio and effective spin unchanged, with the same sky position. The luminosity distance scales with the chirp mass, so the invariant is M_c over D_L, not equality of D_L.
The paper rewrites the cut chain on that corrected signature and executes it on public LVK data. The catalog has 391 events, 282 with source-frame masses, and skymaps from GWTC-2.1, GWTC-3, GWTC-4.1 and GWTC-5.0, with 281 of 282 events mapped. Every stage returns a null: the Stage-1 label-permutation count is 32,434 against a null median of 32,806, a mild deficit with two-sided p about 0.10; the corrected M_c/D_L cut is 30,343 against a matched independent-pair null of 30,349, p about 0.96; and the full-volume candidate count is 30,311. The corrected Stage-3 posterior cut recovers 82 of 120 pairs and a shared-base cluster of 64 of 82 at p = 1.000.
The calibrated population limit is μ less than 274 detectable families at 90 percent confidence at the operational sky cut, or 205 under the Gamma-Poisson model. At C greater than 0.5 the limit is 17.3 (20.9), and at C greater than 0.95 it is 3.10 (3.23). The result is a count in the surveyed catalog volume, not a density. A stronger bound needs an injection and selection model for the unmeasured family efficiency.
Key results
- Corrected boost signature: source-frame masses scale together, M_c over D_L invariant, D_L proportional to M_c.
- Full catalog and skymap chain on 281 of 282 events.
- Null at every stage; corrected Stage-1.5 count 30,343 against a matched null of 30,349.
- Corrected Stage-3 posterior cut: 82 of 120 survivors, 64 of 82 shared-base cluster at p = 1.000.
- Calibrated 90 percent limits: μ less than 274 (205) at C greater than 0.1, 17.3 (20.9) at C greater than 0.5, 3.10 (3.23) at C greater than 0.95.
Status and limits
This is a 27-page content-complete draft. The equality-D_L Stage-3 numbers (65 of 120, 57 of 65) remain only as labelled comparisons. The efficiency is an archived-cut order-of-magnitude model, the family test is precision-degenerate, and no density bound is claimed. It has not been submitted or peer reviewed.