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

Document #:

LIGO-P151226-v13

Document type:

P - Publications

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 5 σ. 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+0.7
−0.9 × 10^-22. The inferred source-frame initial black hole masses are 14.2+8.3
−3.7 M_☉ and 7.5+2.3
−2.3 M_☉, and the final black hole mass is 20.8+6.1
−1.7 M_☉. 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+180
−190 M_pc corresponding to a redshift of 0.09+0.03
−0.04. All uncertainties define a 90% credible interval. This second gravitational-wave observation provides improved constraints on stellar populations and on deviations from general relativity.

Files in Document:

• LIGO-P151226_Detection_of_GW151226.pdf (1.0 MB)

Topics:

• Compact Binaries

Authors:

• LIGO Scientific Collaboration
• Virgo Collaboration

Keywords:

GW151226 detection gravitational-waves BBH

Notes and Changes:

http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.241103

Related Documents:

• LIGO-P1600088: Binary Black Hole Mergers in the first Advanced LIGO Observing Run
• LIGO-P150914: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger

Referenced by:

• LIGO-P170104-v12: GW170104: Observation of a 50-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence at Redshift 0.2
• LIGO-P1600088-v18: Binary Black Hole Mergers in the first Advanced LIGO Observing Run

Journal References:

Published in Phys Rev Letters vol. 116 pg. 241103.