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GW170104: Observation of a 50-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence at Redshift 0.2.
- Source :
-
Physical review letters [Phys Rev Lett] 2017 Jun 02; Vol. 118 (22), pp. 221101. Date of Electronic Publication: 2017 Jun 01. - Publication Year :
- 2017
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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_{-6.0}^{+8.4}M_{⊙} and 19.4_{-5.9}^{+5.3}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, χ_{eff}=-0.12_{-0.30}^{+0.21}. 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_{-390}^{+450} Mpc corresponding to a redshift of z=0.18_{-0.07}^{+0.08}. 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 m_{g}≤7.7×10^{-23} eV/c^{2}. In all cases, we find that GW170104 is consistent with general relativity.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1079-7114
- Volume :
- 118
- Issue :
- 22
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Physical review letters
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 28621973
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.221101