GW170104 : Observation of a 50-solar-mass binary black hole coalescence at redshift 0.2

Abbott, B. P. and Jawahar, S. and Lockerbie, N. A. and Tokmakov, K. V., LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration (2017) GW170104 : Observation of a 50-solar-mass binary black hole coalescence at redshift 0.2. Physical Review Letters, 118 (22). 221101. ISSN 1079-7114 (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.221101)

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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+8.4−6.0M⊙ and 19.4+5.3−5.9M⊙ (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, χeff=−0.12+0.21−0.30. 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+450−390  Mpc corresponding to a redshift of z=0.18+0.08−0.07. 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 mg≤7.7×10−23  eV/c2. In all cases, we find that GW170104 is consistent with general relativity.

ORCID iDs

Abbott, B. P., Jawahar, S. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4945-691X, Lockerbie, N. A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1678-3260 and Tokmakov, K. V. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2808-6593;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:61393
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    1 June 2017
    Published
    9 May 2017
    Accepted
    Subjects:Science > Physics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:28 Jul 2017 08:53
    Last modified:19 Nov 2024 01:09
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/61393
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