Gravitational perturbations of a Kerr black hole in $f(R)$ gravity

Abstract: Modified theories of gravity are often built such that they contain general relativity as a limiting case. This inclusion property implies that the Kerr metric is common to many families of theories. For example, all analytic $f(R)$ theories with vanishing constant term admit the Kerr solution. In any given theory, however, the response of the gravitational field to astrophysical disturbances is tied to the structure of the field equations. As such, even if black holes are Kerr, the underlying theory can, in principle, be probed through gravitational distortions. In this paper, we study linear perturbations of a Kerr black hole in $f(R)$ gravity using the Newman-Penrose formalism. We show that, as in general relativity, the equations governing the perturbed metric, which depend on the quadratic term of the function $f$, completely decouple.