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Tests of General Relativity with GW150914

Abbott, B. P. and Abbott, R. and Abernathy, M. R. and Adhikari, R. X. 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 Drever, R. W. P. and Ehrens, P. and Etzel, T. and Gossan, S. E. and Gushwa, K. E. and Gustafson, E. K. and Hall, E. D. and Heptonstall, A. W. and Hodge, K. A. and Isi, M. and Kanner, J. B. and Kells, W. 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 Schmidt, P. and Shao, Z. and Singer, A. and Smith, N. D. and Smith, R. J. E. and Taylor, R. and Thirugnanasambandam, M. P. and Torrie, C. I. and Vajente, G. and Vass, S. and Wallace, L. and Weinstein, A. J. and Williams, R. D. and Wipf, C. C. and Yamamoto, H. and Zhang, L. and Zucker, M. E. and Zweizig, J. and Chen, Y. and Engels, W. and Thorne, K. S. and Vallisneri, M. and Hemberger, D. A. and Scheel, M. A. and Szilagyi, B. and Teukolsky, S. (2016) Tests of General Relativity with GW150914. Physical Review Letters, 116 (22). Art. No. 221101. ISSN 0031-9007. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.221101. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20160607-154130083

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Abstract

The LIGO detection of GW150914 provides an unprecedented opportunity to study the two-body motion of a compact-object binary in the large-velocity, highly nonlinear regime, and to witness the final merger of the binary and the excitation of uniquely relativistic modes of the gravitational field. We carry out several investigations to determine whether GW150914 is consistent with a binary black-hole merger in general relativity. We find that the final remnant’s mass and spin, as determined from the low-frequency (inspiral) and high-frequency (postinspiral) phases of the signal, are mutually consistent with the binary black-hole solution in general relativity. Furthermore, the data following the peak of GW150914 are consistent with the least-damped quasinormal mode inferred from the mass and spin of the remnant black hole. By using waveform models that allow for parametrized general-relativity violations during the inspiral and merger phases, we perform quantitative tests on the gravitational-wave phase in the dynamical regime and we determine the first empirical bounds on several high-order post-Newtonian coefficients. We constrain the graviton Compton wavelength, assuming that gravitons are dispersed in vacuum in the same way as particles with mass, obtaining a 90%-confidence lower bound of 10^(13 ) km. In conclusion, within our statistical uncertainties, we find no evidence for violations of general relativity in the genuinely strong-field regime of gravity.


Item Type:Article
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.221101DOIArticle
http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.221101PublisherArticle
http://arxiv.org/abs/1602.03841arXivDiscussion Paper
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Adhikari, R. X.0000-0002-5731-5076
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
Weinstein, A. J.0000-0002-0928-6784
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
Chen, Y.0000-0002-9730-9463
Vallisneri, M.0000-0002-4162-0033
Teukolsky, S.0000-0001-9765-4526
Additional Information:© 2016 American Physical Society. Received 26 March 2016; revised manuscript received 9 May 2016; published 31 May 2016. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the U.S. 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 GEO600 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 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 and 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 Science and Engineering Research Council Canada, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation, the 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 the provision of computational resources. Finally, we thank the anonymous referees, whose comments helped improve the clarity of the Letter.
Group:LIGO
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
NSFUNSPECIFIED
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)UNSPECIFIED
Max-Planck-SocietyUNSPECIFIED
State of Niedersachsen/GermanyUNSPECIFIED
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
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO)UNSPECIFIED
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (India)UNSPECIFIED
Department of Science and Technology (India)UNSPECIFIED
Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB)UNSPECIFIED
Ministry of Human Resource Development (India)UNSPECIFIED
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)UNSPECIFIED
Conselleria d’Economia i Competitivitat and Conselleria d’EducacióUNSPECIFIED
Cultura i Universitats of the Govern de les Illes BalearsUNSPECIFIED
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 Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)UNSPECIFIED
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIAR)UNSPECIFIED
Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (MCTI)UNSPECIFIED
Russian Foundation for Basic ResearchUNSPECIFIED
Leverhulme TrustUNSPECIFIED
Research CorporationUNSPECIFIED
Ministry of Science and Technology (Taipei)UNSPECIFIED
Kavli FoundationUNSPECIFIED
Ontario Ministry of Research and InnovationUNSPECIFIED
Issue or Number:22
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.221101
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20160607-154130083
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20160607-154130083
Official Citation:Tests of General Relativity with GW150914 B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific and Virgo Collaborations) Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 221101 (2016) – Published 31 May 2016
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:67757
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: Ruth Sustaita
Deposited On:09 Jun 2016 16:17
Last Modified:11 Nov 2021 03:54

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