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GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence

B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration)
Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 241103 – Published 15 June 2016
Physics logo See Focus story: LIGO Bags Another Black Hole Merger

Abstract

We report the observation of a gravitational-wave signal produced by the coalescence of two stellar-mass black holes. The signal, GW151226, was observed by the twin detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) on December 26, 2015 at 03:38:53 UTC. The signal was initially identified within 70 s by an online matched-filter search targeting binary coalescences. Subsequent off-line analyses recovered GW151226 with a network signal-to-noise ratio of 13 and a significance greater than 5σ. The signal persisted in the LIGO frequency band for approximately 1 s, increasing in frequency and amplitude over about 55 cycles from 35 to 450 Hz, and reached a peak gravitational strain of 3.40.9+0.7×1022. The inferred source-frame initial black hole masses are 14.23.7+8.3M and 7.52.3+2.3M, and the final black hole mass is 20.81.7+6.1M. We find that at least one of the component black holes has spin greater than 0.2. This source is located at a luminosity distance of 440190+180Mpc corresponding to a redshift of 0.090.04+0.03. All uncertainties define a 90% credible interval. This second gravitational-wave observation provides improved constraints on stellar populations and on deviations from general relativity.

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  • Received 31 May 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.241103

This article is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

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LIGO Bags Another Black Hole Merger

Published 15 June 2016

LIGO has detected a second burst of gravitational waves from merging black holes, suggesting that such detections will soon become routine and part of a new kind of astronomy.

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Vol. 116, Iss. 24 — 17 June 2016

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