GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence
Source
Physical Review Letters
ISSN
00319007
Date Issued
2016-06-15
Author(s)
Abbott, B. P.
Abbott, R.
Abbott, T. D.
Abernathy, M. R.
Acernese, F.
Ackley, K.
Adams, C.
Adams, T.
Addesso, P.
Adhikari, R. X.
Adya, V. B.
Affeldt, C.
Agathos, M.
Agatsuma, K.
Aggarwal, N.
Aguiar, O. D.
Aiello, L.
Ain, A.
Ajith, P.
Allen, B.
Allocca, A.
Altin, P. A.
Anderson, S. B.
Anderson, W. G.
Arai, K.
Araya, M. C.
Arceneaux, C. C.
Areeda, J. S.
Arnaud, N.
Arun, K. G.
Ascenzi, S.
Ashton, G.
Ast, M.
Aston, S. M.
Astone, P.
Aufmuth, P.
Aulbert, C.
Babak, S.
Bacon, P.
Bader, M. K.M.
Baker, P. T.
Baldaccini, F.
Ballardin, G.
Ballmer, S. W.
Barayoga, J. C.
Barclay, S. E.
Barish, B. C.
Barker, D.
Barone, F.
Barr, B.
Barsotti, L.
Barsuglia, M.
Barta, D.
Bartlett, J.
Bartos, I.
Bassiri, R.
Basti, A.
Batch, J. C.
Baune, C.
Bavigadda, V.
Bazzan, M.
Bejger, M.
Bell, A. S.
Berger, B. K.
Bergmann, G.
Berry, C. P.L.
Bersanetti, D.
Bertolini, A.
Betzwieser, J.
Bhagwat, S.
Bhandare, R.
Bilenko, I. A.
Billingsley, G.
Birch, J.
Birney, R.
Birnholtz, O.
Biscans, S.
Bisht, A.
Bitossi, M.
Biwer, C.
Bizouard, M. A.
Blackburn, J. K.
Blair, C. D.
Blair, D. G.
Blair, R. M.
Bloemen, S.
Bock, O.
Boer, M.
Bogaert, G.
Bogan, C.
Bohe, A.
Bond, C.
Bondu, F.
Bonnand, R.
Boom, B. A.
Bork, R.
Boschi, V.
Bose, S.
Bouffanais, Y.
Bozzi, A.
Abstract
We report the observation of a gravitational-wave signal produced by the coalescence of two stellar-mass black holes. The signal, GW151226, was observed by the twin detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) on December 26, 2015 at 03:38:53 UTC. The signal was initially identified within 70 s by an online matched-filter search targeting binary coalescences. Subsequent off-line analyses recovered GW151226 with a network signal-to-noise ratio of 13 and a significance greater than 5σ. The signal persisted in the LIGO frequency band for approximately 1 s, increasing in frequency and amplitude over about 55 cycles from 35 to 450 Hz, and reached a peak gravitational strain of 3.4-0.9+0.7×10-22. The inferred source-frame initial black hole masses are 14.2-3.7+8.3M and 7.5-2.3+2.3M, and the final black hole mass is 20.8-1.7+6.1M. We find that at least one of the component black holes has spin greater than 0.2. This source is located at a luminosity distance of 440-190+180 Mpc corresponding to a redshift of 0.09-0.04+0.03. All uncertainties define a 90% credible interval. This second gravitational-wave observation provides improved constraints on stellar populations and on deviations from general relativity.