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

Author

Benjamin P. Abbott
Marco Cavaglia, Missouri University of Science and TechnologyFollow
For full list of authors, see publisher's website.

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^+8.4M⊙ and 19.4_-5.9^+5.3M⊙ (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≤7.7x10^-23 eV/c². In all cases, we find that GW170104 is consistent with general relativity.

Recommended Citation

B. P. Abbott et al., "GW170104: Observation of a 50-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence at Redshift 0.2," Physical Review Letters, vol. 118, no. 22, American Physical Society (APS), Jun 2017.

The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.221101

Department(s)

Physics

Keywords and Phrases

Gravitational effects; Gravity waves; Interferometers; Laser interferometry; Relativity; Signal to noise ratio; Stars; Testing; Advanced detector; General Relativity; Gravitational-wave signals; Laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatories; Massive particles; Orbital angular momentum; Spin configurations; Stellar-mass black holes; Gravitation

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0031-9007

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Final Version

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2017 American Physical Society (APS), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jun 2017