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

B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, M.R. Abernathy, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, C. Adams, T. Adams, P. Addesso, R.X. Adhikari, V.B. Adya, C. Affeldt, M. Agathos, K. Agatsuma, N. Aggarwal, O.D. Aguiar, L. Aiello, A. Ain, P. Ajith, B. AllenA. Allocca, P.A. Altin, S. B. Anderson, W. G. Anderson, K. Arai, M.C. Araya, C.C. Arceneaux, J.S. Areeda, N. Arnaud, K.G. Arun, S. Ascenzi, G. Ashton, M. Ast, S. M. Aston, P. Astone, P. Aufmuth, C. Aulbert, S. Babak, P. Bacon, M. K.M. Bader, P.T. Baker, F. Baldaccini, G. Ballardin, S.W. Ballmer, J.C. Barayoga, S.E. Barclay, B.C. Barish, D. Barker, F. Barone, B. Barr, L. Barsotti, M. Barsuglia, D. Barta, J. Bartlett, I. Bartos, R. Bassiri, A. Basti, J.C. Batch, C. Baune, V. Bavigadda, M. Bazzan, M. Bejger, A. S. Bell, B.K. Berger, G. Bergmann, C. P.L. Berry, D. Bersanetti, A. Bertolini, J. Betzwieser, S. Bhagwat, R. Bhandare, I. A. Bilenko, G. Billingsley, J. Birch, R. Birney, O. Birnholtz, S. Biscans, A. Bisht, M. Bitossi, C. Biwer, M.A. Bizouard, J.K. Blackburn, C. D. Blair, D. G. Blair, R.M. Blair, S. Bloemen, O. Bock, M. Boer, G. Bogaert, C. Bogan, A. Bohe, C. Bond, F. Bondu, R. Bonnand, B. A. Boom, R. Bork, V. Boschi, S. Bose, Y. Bouffanais, A. Bozzi, C. Bradaschia, P. R. Brady, V. B. Braginsky, M. Branchesi, J. E. Brau, T. Briant, A. Brillet, M. Brinkmann, V. Brisson, P. Brockill, J. E. Broida, A. F. Brooks, D. A. Brown, D. D. Brown, N. M. Brown, S. Brunett, C. C. Buchanan, A. Buikema, T. Bulik, H. J. Bulten, A. Buonanno, D. Buskulic, C. Buy, R. L. Byer, M. Cabero, L. Cadonati, G. Cagnoli, C. Cahillane, J. Calderón Bustillo, T. Callister, E. Calloni, J. B. Camp, K. C. Cannon, J. Cao, C. D. Capano, E. Capocasa, F. Carbognani, S. Caride, J. Casanueva Diaz, C. Casentini, S. Caudill, M. Cavaglià, F. Cavalier, R. Cavalieri, G. Cella, C. B. Cepeda, L. Cerboni Baiardi, G. Cerretani, E. Cesarini, S.J. Chamberlin, M. Chan, S. Chao, P. Charlton, E. Chassande-Mottin, B. D. Cheeseboro, H. Y. Chen, Y. Chen, C. Cheng, A. Chincarini, A. Chiummo, H. S. Cho, M. Cho, J.H. Chow, N. Christensen, Q. Chu, S. Chua, Shin Chung, G. Ciani, F. Clara, J. A. Clark, F. Cleva, E. Coccia, P. F. Cohadon, A. Colla, C. G. Collette, L. Cominsky, M. Constancio, A. Conte, L. Conti, D. Cook, T.R. Corbitt, N. Cornish, A. Corsi, S. Cortese, C. A. Costa, M. W. Coughlin, S. B. Coughlin, J. P. Coulon, S.T. Countryman, P. Couvares, E. E. Cowan, D. M. Coward, M.J. Cowart, D.C. Coyne, R. Coyne, K. Craig, J. D E Creighton, J. Cripe, S. G. Crowder, A. Cumming, L. Cunningham, E. Cuoco, T. Dal Canton, S. L. Danilishin, S. D'Antonio, K. Danzmann, N. S. Darman, A. Dasgupta, C. F. Da Silva Costa, V. Dattilo, I. Dave, M. Davier, G. S. Davies, E.J. Daw, R. Day, S. S. S. Ramalingam, D. Debra, G. Debreczeni, J. Degallaix, M. De Laurentis, S. Deléglise, W. Del Pozzo, T. Denker, T. Dent, V. Dergachev, R. De Rosa, R.T. Derosa, R. Desalvo, R. C. Devine, S. Dhurandhar, M. C. Díaz, L. Di Fiore, M. Di Giovanni, T. Di Girolamo, A. Di Lieto, S. Di Pace, I. Di Palma, Q. Fang, M. T. Hartman, K. Holt, E. J. Howell, Li Ju, T. Kaur, Y. Ma, J. Qin, N. D. Smith, Yan Wang, L. Wen, Chunnong Zhao, Xingjiang Zhu, LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaborations

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    3083 Citations (Scopus)

    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.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number241103
    JournalPhysical Review Letters
    Volume116
    Issue number24
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 15 Jun 2016

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this