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Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger

Thorne, K. S. and Drever, R. W. P. and Adhikari, R. X. and Chen, Y. and Ott, C. D. and Weinstein, A. J. and Abbott, B. P. and Abbott, R. and Abernathy, M. R. and Anderson, S. B. and Arai, K. and Araya, M. C. and Barayoga, J. C. and Barish, B. C. and Berger, B. K. and Billingsley, G. and Blackburn, J. K. and Bork, R. and Brooks, A. F. and Cahillane, C. and Callister, T. and Cepeda, C. B. and Chakraborty, R. and Chalermsongsak, T. and Couvares, P. and Coyne, D. C. and Dergachev, V. and Ehrens, P. and Engels, W. and Etzel, T. and Gossan, S. E. and Gushwa, K. E. and Hall, E. D. and Heefner, J. and Heptonstall, A. W. and Hodge, K. A. and Isi, M. and Jacobson, M. B. and Kells, W. and Kanner, J. B. and Kondrashov, V. and Korth, W. Z. and Kozak, D. B. and Lazzarini, A. and Li, T. G. F. and Mageswaran, M. and Maros, E. and Martynov, D. V. and Marx, J. N. and McIntyre, G. and McIver, J. and Meshkov, S. and Pedraza, M. and Perreca, A. and Price, L. R. and Quintero, E. A. and Robertson, N. A. and Rollins, J. G. and Sachdev, S. and Sanchez, E. J. and Sanders, G. H. and Schmidt, P. and Shao, Z. and Singer, A. and Smith, M. R. and Smith, N. D. and Smith, R. J. E. and Taylor, R and Thirugnanasambandam, M. P. and Torrie, C. I. and Vajente, G. and Vallisneri, M. and Vass, S. and Wallace, L. and Whitcomb, S. E. and Willems, P. A. and Williams, R. D. and Wipf, C. C. and Yamamoto, H. and Zhang, L. and Zucker, M. E. and Zweizig, J. (2016) Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger. Physical Review Letters, 116 (6). Art. No. 061102. ISSN 0031-9007. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20160211-080913893

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Abstract

On September 14, 2015 at 09:50:45 UTC the two detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory simultaneously observed a transient gravitational-wave signal. The signal sweeps upwards in frequency from 35 to 250 Hz with a peak gravitational-wave strain of 1.0×10^(−21). It matches the waveform predicted by general relativity for the inspiral and merger of a pair of black holes and the ringdown of the resulting single black hole. The signal was observed with a matched-filter signal-to-noise ratio of 24 and a false alarm rate estimated to be less than 1 event per 203 000 years, equivalent to a significance greater than 5.1σ. The source lies at a luminosity distance of 410 +160/−180  Mpc corresponding to a redshift z=0.09 +0.03/−0.04. In the source frame, the initial black hole masses are 36+5−4M_⊙ and 29+4−4M_⊙, and the final black hole mass is 62+4−4M⊙, with 3.0+0.5−0.5M_⊙c^2 radiated in gravitational waves. All uncertainties define 90% credible intervals. These observations demonstrate the existence of binary stellar-mass black hole systems. This is the first direct detection of gravitational waves and the first observation of a binary black hole merger.


Item Type:Article
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102DOIArticle
http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102PublisherArticle
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Adhikari, R. X.0000-0002-5731-5076
Chen, Y.0000-0002-9730-9463
Ott, C. D.0000-0003-4993-2055
Weinstein, A. J.0000-0002-0928-6784
Arai, K.0000-0001-8916-8915
Billingsley, G.0000-0002-4141-2744
Blackburn, J. K.0000-0002-3838-2986
Brooks, A. F.0000-0003-4295-792X
Callister, T.0000-0001-9892-177X
Coyne, D. C.0000-0002-6427-3222
Gossan, S. E.0000-0002-8138-9198
Hall, E. D.0000-0001-9018-666X
Isi, M.0000-0001-8830-8672
Kanner, J. B.0000-0001-8115-0577
Korth, W. Z.0000-0003-3527-1348
Kozak, D. B.0000-0003-3118-8950
McIver, J.0000-0003-0316-1355
Sachdev, S.0000-0002-2432-7070
Vajente, G.0000-0002-7656-6882
Vallisneri, M.0000-0002-4162-0033
Williams, R. D.0000-0002-9145-8580
Zhang, L.0000-0002-0898-787X
Zucker, M. E.0000-0002-2544-1596
Zweizig, J.0000-0002-1521-3397
Additional Information: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. Received Jan 21 2016. Published 11 Feb 2016. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) for the construction and operation of the LIGO Laboratory and Advanced LIGO as well as the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) of the United Kingdom, the Max-Planck Society (MPS), and the State of Niedersachsen, Germany, for support of the construction of Advanced LIGO and construction and operation of the GEO 600 detector. Additional support for Advanced LIGO was provided by the Australian Research Council. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, for the construction and operation of the Virgo detector, and for the creation and support of the EGO consortium. The authors also gratefully acknowledge research support from these agencies as well as by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India, Department of Science and Technology, India, Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB), India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, India, the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, the Conselleria d’Economia i Competitivitat and Conselleria d’Educació, Cultura i Universitats of the Govern de les Illes Balears, the National Science Centre of Poland, the European Commission, the Royal Society, the Scottish Funding Council, the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA), the Lyon Institute of Origins (LIO), the National Research Foundation of Korea, Industry Canada and the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Russian Foundation for Basic Research, the Leverhulme Trust, the Research Corporation, Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan, and the Kavli Foundation. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the NSF, STFC, MPS, INFN, CNRS and the State of Niedersachsen, Germany, for provision of computational resources. This article has been assigned the document numbers LIGO-P150914 and VIR-0015A-16.
Group:LIGO
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
NSFUNSPECIFIED
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)UNSPECIFIED
Max-Planck SocietyUNSPECIFIED
Australian Research CouncilUNSPECIFIED
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)UNSPECIFIED
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)UNSPECIFIED
Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM)UNSPECIFIED
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of IndiaUNSPECIFIED
Department of Science and Technology of IndiaUNSPECIFIED
Science and Engineering Research Board of IndiaUNSPECIFIED
Ministry of Human Resource Development, IndiaUNSPECIFIED
Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO)UNSPECIFIED
Conselleria d’Economia i CompetitivitatUNSPECIFIED
National Science Centre of PolandUNSPECIFIED
European CommissionUNSPECIFIED
Royal SocietyUNSPECIFIED
Scottish Funding CouncilUNSPECIFIED
Scottish Universities Physics AllianceUNSPECIFIED
Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA)UNSPECIFIED
Lyon Institute of Origins (LIO)UNSPECIFIED
National Research Foundation of KoreaUNSPECIFIED
Industry CanadaUNSPECIFIED
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)UNSPECIFIED
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIAR)UNSPECIFIED
Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e InovaçãoUNSPECIFIED
Russian Foundation for Basic ResearchUNSPECIFIED
Leverhulme TrustUNSPECIFIED
Research CorporationUNSPECIFIED
Ministry of Science and Technology (Taipei)UNSPECIFIED
Kavli FoundationUNSPECIFIED
Conselleria d’Educació, Cultura i Universitats of the Govern de les Illes BalearsUNSPECIFIED
Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and InnovationUNSPECIFIED
State of Niedersachsen/GermanyUNSPECIFIED
Other Numbering System:
Other Numbering System NameOther Numbering System ID
LIGOLIGO-P150914
VIRGOVIR-0015A-16
Issue or Number:6
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20160211-080913893
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20160211-080913893
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:64405
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: Joy Painter
Deposited On:11 Feb 2016 16:22
Last Modified:10 Nov 2021 23:30

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