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

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LIGO-P170104-v12
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P - Publications
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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+8.4
−6.0
M and 19.4+5.3
−5.9
M (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+0.21
−0.30
. 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+450
−390
Mpc corresponding to a redshift of z = 0.18+0.08
−0.07
. 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.
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Published in Phys Rev Letters vol. 118 pg. 221101.

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