Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-14-2016
Abstract
On September 14, 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected a gravitational-wave transient (GW150914); we characterize the properties of the source and its parameters. The data around the time of the event were analyzed coherently across the LIGO network using a suite of accurate waveform models that describe gravitational waves from a compact binary system in general relativity. GW150914 was produced by a nearly equal mass binary black hole of masses 36-4+5M and 29-4+4M; for each parameter we report the median value and the range of the 90% credible interval. The dimensionless spin magnitude of the more massive black hole is bound to be <0.7 (at 90% probability). The luminosity distance to the source is 410-180+160 Mpc, corresponding to a redshift 0.09-0.04+0.03 assuming standard cosmology. The source location is constrained to an annulus section of 610 deg2, primarily in the southern hemisphere. The binary merges into a black hole of mass 62-4+4M and spin 0.67-0.07+0.05. This black hole is significantly more massive than any other inferred from electromagnetic observations in the stellar-mass regime.
Publication Source (Journal or Book title)
Physical Review Letters
Recommended Citation
Abbott, B., Abbott, R., Abbott, T., Abernathy, M., Acernese, F., Ackley, K., Adams, C., Adams, T., Addesso, P., Adhikari, R., Adya, V., Affeldt, C., Agathos, M., Agatsuma, K., Aggarwal, N., Aguiar, O., Aiello, L., Ain, A., Ajith, P., Allen, B., Allocca, A., Altin, P., Anderson, S., Anderson, W., Arai, K., Araya, M., Arceneaux, C., Areeda, J., Arnaud, N., Arun, K., Ascenzi, S., Ashton, G., & Ast, M. (2016). Properties of the Binary Black Hole Merger GW150914. Physical Review Letters, 116 (24) https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.241102