Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-15-2016
Journal / Book Title
Physical review letters
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 3.4-0.9+0.7×10-22. The inferred source-frame initial black hole masses are 14.2-3.7+8.3M and 7.5-2.3+2.3M, and the final black hole mass is 20.8-1.7+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 440-190+180 Mpc corresponding to a redshift of 0.09-0.04+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.
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.241103
MSU Digital Commons Citation
Abbott, B. P.; Abbott, R.; Abbott, T. D.; Abernathy, M. R.; Acernese, F.; Ackley, K.; Adams, C.; Adams, T.; Favata, Marc; and Ghosh, Shaon, "GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence" (2016). Department of Physics and Astronomy Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 70.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/physics-astron-facpubs/70
Published Citation
Abbott, B. P., Abbott, R., Abbott, T. D., Abernathy, M. R., Acernese, F., Ackley, K., ... & Chamberlin, S. J. (2016). GW151226: observation of gravitational waves from a 22-solar-mass binary black hole coalescence. Physical review letters, 116(24), 241103.