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

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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 $$31.2^{+8.4}_{-6.0}\,M_\odot$$ and $$19.4^{+5.3}_{-5.9}\,M_\odot$$ (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, $$\chi_\mathrm{eff} = -0.12^{+0.21}_{-0.30}.$$ This result implies that spin configurations with both component spins positively aligned with the orbital angular momentum are disfavored. The source luminosity distance is $$880^{+450}_{-390}~\mathrm{Mpc}$$ 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 $$m_g \le 7.7 \times 10^{-23}~\mathrm{eV}/c^2$$. In all cases, we find that GW170104 is consistent with general relativity.

Most cited references48

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Author and article information

Journal
2017-06-06
1706.01812
10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.221101

LIGO-P170104
Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(22):221101, 2017
28 pages including Supplemental Material, 15 Figures, 5 Tables
gr-qc astro-ph.HE
Lvc Publications

General relativity & Quantum cosmology