GW170104: Observation of a 50-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence at Redshift 0.2

Authors

B. P. Abbott, California Institute of Technology
R. Abbott, Louisiana State University
T. D. Abbott, University of Salerno
F. Acernese, Complesso Universitario di Monte sant'Angelo
K. Ackley, University of Florida
C. Adams, Universite de Savoie
T. Adams, University of Sannio
P. Addesso, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
R. X. Adhikari, University of Mississippi
V. B. Adya, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
C. Affeldt, University of Cambridge
M. Afrough, National Institute for Subatomic Physics
B. Agarwal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M. Agathos, National Institute for Space Research
K. Agatsuma, Gran Sasso Science Institute
N. Aggarwal, National Institute for Nuclear Physics
O. D. Aguiar, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics India
L. Aiello, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
A. Ain, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
P. Ajith, Leibniz University Hannover
B. Allen, University of Pisa
G. Allen, Sezione di Pisa
A. Allocca, Australian National University
P. A. Altin, Institut National de Physique Nucleaire et de Physique des Particules
A. Amato, ComUE Paris-Saclay
A. Ananyeva, California State University Fullerton
S. B. Anderson, European Gravitational Observatory
W. G. Anderson, Chennai Mathematical Institute
S. Antier, University of Rome Tor Vergata
S. Appert, University of Hamburg
Marc Favata, Montclair State UniversityFollow
Shaon Ghosh, Montclair State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-1-2017

Journal / Book Title

Physical review letters

Abstract

We describe the observation of GW170104, a gravitational-wave signal produced by the coalescence of a pair of stellar-mass black holes. The signal was measured on January 4, 2017 at 10 11:58.6 UTC by the twin advanced detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory during their second observing run, with a network signal-to-noise ratio of 13 and a false alarm rate less than 1 in 70 000 years. The inferred component black hole masses are 31.2-6.0+8.4M' and 19.4-5.9+5.3M (at the 90% credible level). The black hole spins are best constrained through measurement of the effective inspiral spin parameter, a mass-weighted combination of the spin components perpendicular to the orbital plane, χeff=-0.12-0.30+0.21. This result implies that spin configurations with both component spins positively aligned with the orbital angular momentum are disfavored. The source luminosity distance is 880-390+450 Mpc corresponding to a redshift of z=0.18-0.07+0.08. We constrain the magnitude of modifications to the gravitational-wave dispersion relation and perform null tests of general relativity. Assuming that gravitons are dispersed in vacuum like massive particles, we bound the graviton mass to mg≤7.7×10-23 eV/c2. In all cases, we find that GW170104 is consistent with general relativity.

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.221101

MSU Digital Commons Citation

Abbott, B. P.; Abbott, R.; Abbott, T. D.; Acernese, F.; Ackley, K.; Adams, C.; Adams, T.; Addesso, P.; Adhikari, R. X.; Adya, V. B.; Affeldt, C.; Afrough, M.; Agarwal, B.; Agathos, M.; Agatsuma, K.; Aggarwal, N.; Aguiar, O. D.; Aiello, L.; Ain, A.; Ajith, P.; Allen, B.; Allen, G.; Allocca, A.; Altin, P. A.; Amato, A.; Ananyeva, A.; Anderson, S. B.; Anderson, W. G.; Antier, S.; Appert, S.; Favata, Marc; and Ghosh, Shaon, "GW170104: Observation of a 50-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence at Redshift 0.2" (2017). Department of Physics and Astronomy Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 71.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/physics-astron-facpubs/71

Published Citation

Scientific, L. I. G. O., Abbott, B. P., Abbott, R., Abbott, T. D., Acernese, F., Ackley, K., ... & Cao, H. (2017). GW170104: observation of a 50-solar-mass binary black hole coalescence at redshift 0.2. Physical review letters, 118(22), 221101.