• Media type: Text; E-Article
  • Title: Observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger
  • Contributor: Abbott, B.P. [Author]; Abbott, R. [Author]; Abbott, T.D. [Author]; Abernathy, M.R. [Author]; Acernese, F. [Author]; LIGO Scientific Collaboration [Author]; Virgo Collaboration [Author]
  • imprint: College Park, MD : American Physical Society, 2016
  • Published in: Physical Review Letters 116 (2016), Nr. 6
  • Issue: published Version
  • Language: English
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.15488/2108; https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102
  • ISSN: 0031-9007
  • Keywords: Gravitationswelle ; Bins ; Stellar-mass black holes ; Credible interval ; Black hole mass ; Gravitational-wave signals ; Laser interferometry ; Stars ; Gravitation ; Matched filters ; Signal to noise ratio ; Gravitational effects ; Interferometers ; Laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatories ; Mergers and acquisitions ; Relativity ; Merging ; Signal processing ; Gravity waves ; Direct detection ; General Relativity ; False alarm rate
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  • Description: On September 14, 2015 at 09:50:45 UTC the two detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory simultaneously observed a transient gravitational-wave signal. The signal sweeps upwards in frequency from 35 to 250 Hz with a peak gravitational-wave strain of 1.0×10-21. It matches the waveform predicted by general relativity for the inspiral and merger of a pair of black holes and the ringdown of the resulting single black hole. The signal was observed with a matched-filter signal-to-noise ratio of 24 and a false alarm rate estimated to be less than 1 event per 203 000 years, equivalent to a significance greater than 5.1σ. The source lies at a luminosity distance of 410-180+160 Mpc corresponding to a redshift z=0.09-0.04+0.03. In the source frame, the initial black hole masses are 36-4+5M⊙ and 29-4+4M⊙, and the final black hole mass is 62-4+4M⊙, with 3.0-0.5+0.5M⊙c2 radiated in gravitational waves. All uncertainties define 90% credible intervals. These observations demonstrate the existence of binary stellar-mass black hole systems. This is the first direct detection of gravitational waves and the first observation of a binary black hole merger.
  • Access State: Open Access
  • Rights information: Attribution (CC BY)