Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Featured in Physics
  • Editors' Suggestion
  • Open Access

GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence

B. P. Abbott1, R. Abbott1, T. D. Abbott2, M. R. Abernathy3, F. Acernese4,5, K. Ackley6, C. Adams7, T. Adams8, P. Addesso9 et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration)

P. Addesso9, R. X. Adhikari1, V. B. Adya10, C. Affeldt10, M. Agathos11, K. Agatsuma11, N. Aggarwal12, O. D. Aguiar13, L. Aiello14,15, A. Ain16, P. Ajith17, B. Allen10,18,19, A. Allocca20,21, P. A. Altin22, S. B. Anderson1, W. G. Anderson18, K. Arai1, M. C. Araya1, C. C. Arceneaux23, J. S. Areeda24, N. Arnaud25, K. G. Arun26, S. Ascenzi27,15, G. Ashton28, M. Ast29, S. M. Aston7, P. Astone30, P. Aufmuth19, C. Aulbert10, S. Babak31, P. Bacon32, M. K. M. Bader11, P. T. Baker33, F. Baldaccini34,35, G. Ballardin36, S. W. Ballmer37, J. C. Barayoga1, S. E. Barclay38, B. C. Barish1, D. Barker39, F. Barone4,5, B. Barr38, L. Barsotti12, M. Barsuglia32, D. Barta40, J. Bartlett39, I. Bartos41, R. Bassiri42, A. Basti20,21, J. C. Batch39, C. Baune10, V. Bavigadda36, M. Bazzan43,44, M. Bejger45, A. S. Bell38, B. K. Berger1, G. Bergmann10, C. P. L. Berry46, D. Bersanetti47,48, A. Bertolini11, J. Betzwieser7, S. Bhagwat37, R. Bhandare49, I. A. Bilenko50, G. Billingsley1, J. Birch7, I. A. Birney51, O. Birnholtz10, S. Biscans12, A. Bisht10,19, M. Bitossi36, C. Biwer37, M. A. Bizouard25, J. K. Blackburn1, C. D. Blair52, D. G. Blair52, R. M. Blair39, S. Bloemen53, O. Bock10, M. Boer54, G. Bogaert54, C. Bogan10, A. Bohe31, C. Bond46, F. Bondu55, R. Bonnand8, B. A. Boom11, R. Bork1, V. Boschi20,21, S. Bose56,16, Y. Bouffanais32, A. Bozzi36, C. Bradaschia21, P. R. Brady18, V. B. Braginsky50,a, M. Branchesi57,58, J. E. Brau59, T. Briant60, A. Brillet54, M. Brinkmann10, V. Brisson25, P. Brockill18, J. E. Broida61, A. F. Brooks1, D. A. Brown37, D. D. Brown46, N. M. Brown12, S. Brunett1, C. C. Buchanan2, A. Buikema12, T. Bulik62, H. J. Bulten63,11, A. Buonanno31,64, D. Buskulic8, C. Buy32, R. L. Byer42, M. Cabero10, L. Cadonati65, G. Cagnoli66,67, C. Cahillane1, J. Calderón Bustillo65, T. Callister1, E. Calloni68,5, J. B. Camp69, K. C. Cannon70, J. Cao71, C. D. Capano10, E. Capocasa32, F. Carbognani36, S. Caride72, J. Casanueva Diaz25, C. Casentini27,15, S. Caudill18, M. Cavaglià23, F. Cavalier25, R. Cavalieri36, G. Cella21, C. B. Cepeda1, L. Cerboni Baiardi57,58, G. Cerretani20,21, E. Cesarini27,15, S. J. Chamberlin90, M. Chan38, S. Chao73, P. Charlton74, E. Chassande-Mottin32, B. D. Cheeseboro75, H. Y. Chen76, Y. Chen77, C. Cheng73, A. Chincarini48, A. Chiummo36, H. S. Cho78, M. Cho64, J. H. Chow22, N. Christensen61, Q. Chu52, S. Chua60, S. Chung52, G. Ciani6, F. Clara39, J. A. Clark65, F. Cleva54, E. Coccia27,14, P.-F. Cohadon60, A. Colla79,30, C. G. Collette80, L. Cominsky81, M. Constancio, Jr.13, A. Conte79,30, L. Conti44, D. Cook39, T. R. Corbitt2, N. Cornish33, A. Corsi72, S. Cortese36, C. A. Costa13, M. W. Coughlin61, S. B. Coughlin82, J.-P. Coulon54, S. T. Countryman41, P. Couvares1, E. E. Cowan65, D. M. Coward52, M. J. Cowart7, D. C. Coyne1, R. Coyne72, K. Craig38, J. D. E. Creighton18, J. Cripe2, S. G. Crowder83, A. Cumming38, L. Cunningham38, E. Cuoco36, T. Dal Canton10, S. L. Danilishin38, S. D’Antonio15, K. Danzmann19,10, N. S. Darman84, A. Dasgupta85, C. F. Da Silva Costa6, V. Dattilo36, I. Dave49, M. Davier25, G. S. Davies38, E. J. Daw86, R. Day36, S. De37, D. DeBra42, G. Debreczeni40, J. Degallaix66, M. De Laurentis68,5, S. Deléglise60, W. Del Pozzo46, T. Denker10, T. Dent10, V. Dergachev1, R. De Rosa68,5, R. T. DeRosa7, R. DeSalvo9, R. C. Devine75, S. Dhurandhar16, M. C. Díaz87, L. Di Fiore5, M. Di Giovanni88,89, T. Di Girolamo68,5, A. Di Lieto20,21, S. Di Pace79,30, I. Di Palma31,79,30, A. Di Virgilio21, V. Dolique66, F. Donovan12, K. L. Dooley23, S. Doravari10, R. Douglas38, T. P. Downes18, M. Drago10, R. W. P. Drever1, J. C. Driggers39, M. Ducrot8, S. E. Dwyer39, T. B. Edo86, M. C. Edwards61, A. Effler7, H.-B. Eggenstein10, P. Ehrens1, J. Eichholz6,1, S. S. Eikenberry6, W. Engels77, R. C. Essick12, T. Etzel1, M. Evans12, T. M. Evans7, R. Everett90, M. Factourovich41, V. Fafone27,15, H. Fair37, S. Fairhurst91, X. Fan71, Q. Fang52, S. Farinon48, B. Farr76, W. M. Farr46, M. Favata92, M. Fays91, H. Fehrmann10, M. M. Fejer42, E. Fenyvesi93, I. Ferrante20,21, E. C. Ferreira13, F. Ferrini36, F. Fidecaro20,21, I. Fiori36, D. Fiorucci32, R. P. Fisher37, R. Flaminio66,94, M. Fletcher38, H. Fong95, J.-D. Fournier54, S. Frasca79,30, F. Frasconi21, Z. Frei93, A. Freise46, R. Frey59, V. Frey25, P. Fritschel12, V. V. Frolov7, P. Fulda6, M. Fyffe7, H. A. G. Gabbard23, J. R. Gair96, L. Gammaitoni34, S. G. Gaonkar16, F. Garufi68,5, G. Gaur97,85, N. Gehrels69, G. Gemme48, P. Geng87, E. Genin36, A. Gennai21, J. George49, L. Gergely98, V. Germain8, Abhirup Ghosh17, Archisman Ghosh17, S. Ghosh53,11, J. A. Giaime2,7, K. D. Giardina7, A. Giazotto21, K. Gill99, A. Glaefke38, E. Goetz39, R. Goetz6, L. Gondan93, G. González2, J. M. Gonzalez Castro20,21, A. Gopakumar100, N. A. Gordon38, M. L. Gorodetsky50, S. E. Gossan1, M. Gosselin36, R. Gouaty8, A. Grado101,5, C. Graef38, P. B. Graff64, M. Granata66, A. Grant38, S. Gras12, C. Gray39, G. Greco57,58, A. C. Green46, P. Groot53, H. Grote10, S. Grunewald31, G. M. Guidi57,58, X. Guo71, A. Gupta16, M. K. Gupta85, K. E. Gushwa1, E. K. Gustafson1, R. Gustafson102, J. J. Hacker24, B. R. Hall56, E. D. Hall1, H. Hamilton103, G. Hammond38, M. Haney100, M. M. Hanke10, J. Hanks39, C. Hanna90, M. D. Hannam91, J. Hanson7, T. Hardwick2, J. Harms57,58, G. M. Harry3, I. W. Harry31, M. J. Hart38, M. T. Hartman6, C.-J. Haster46, K. Haughian38, J. Healy104, A. Heidmann60, M. C. Heintze7, H. Heitmann54, P. Hello25, G. Hemming36, M. Hendry38, I. S. Heng38, J. Hennig38, J. Henry104, A. W. Heptonstall1, M. Heurs10,19, S. Hild38, D. Hoak36, D. Hofman66, K. Holt7, D. E. Holz76, P. Hopkins91, J. Hough38, E. A. Houston38, E. J. Howell52, Y. M. Hu10, S. Huang73, E. A. Huerta105, D. Huet25, B. Hughey99, S. Husa106, S. H. Huttner38, T. Huynh-Dinh7, N. Indik10, D. R. Ingram39, R. Inta72, H. N. Isa38, J.-M. Isac60, M. Isi1, T. Isogai12, B. R. Iyer17, K. Izumi39, T. Jacqmin60, H. Jang78, K. Jani65, P. Jaranowski107, S. Jawahar108, L. Jian52, F. Jiménez-Forteza106, W. W. Johnson2, N. K. Johnson-McDaniel17, D. I. Jones28, R. Jones38, R. J. G. Jonker11, L. Ju52, Haris K109, C. V. Kalaghatgi91, V. Kalogera82, S. Kandhasamy23, G. Kang78, J. B. Kanner1, S. J. Kapadia10, S. Karki59, K. S. Karvinen10, M. Kasprzack36,2, E. Katsavounidis12, W. Katzman7, S. Kaufer19, T. Kaur52, K. Kawabe39, F. Kéfélian54, M. S. Kehl95, D. Keitel106, D. B. Kelley37, W. Kells1, R. Kennedy86, J. S. Key87, F. Y. Khalili50, I. Khan14, S. Khan91, Z. Khan85, E. A. Khazanov110, N. Kijbunchoo39, Chi-Woong Kim78, Chunglee Kim78, J. Kim111, K. Kim112, N. Kim42, W. Kim113, Y.-M. Kim111, S. J. Kimbrell65, E. J. King113, P. J. King39, J. S. Kissel39, B. Klein82, L. Kleybolte29, S. Klimenko6, S. M. Koehlenbeck10, S. Koley11, V. Kondrashov1, A. Kontos12, M. Korobko29, W. Z. Korth1, I. Kowalska62, D. B. Kozak1, V. Kringel10, B. Krishnan10, A. Królak114,115, C. Krueger19, G. Kuehn10, P. Kumar95, R. Kumar85, L. Kuo73, A. Kutynia114, B. D. Lackey37, M. Landry39, J. Lange104, B. Lantz42, P. D. Lasky116, M. Laxen7, A. Lazzarini1, C. Lazzaro44, P. Leaci79,30, S. Leavey38, E. O. Lebigot32,71, C. H. Lee111, H. K. Lee112, H. M. Lee117, K. Lee38, A. Lenon37, M. Leonardi88,89, J. R. Leong10, N. Leroy25, N. Letendre8, Y. Levin116, J. B. Lewis1, T. G. F. Li118, A. Libson12, T. B. Littenberg119, N. A. Lockerbie108, A. L. Lombardi120, L. T. London91, J. E. Lord37, M. Lorenzini14,15, V. Loriette121, M. Lormand7, G. Losurdo58, J. D. Lough10,19, C. O. Lousto104, H. Lück19,10, A. P. Lundgren10, R. Lynch12, Y. Ma52, B. Machenschalk10, M. MacInnis12, D. M. Macleod2, F. Magaña-Sandoval37, L. Magaña Zertuche37, R. M. Magee56, E. Majorana30, I. Maksimovic121, V. Malvezzi27,15, N. Man54, I. Mandel46, V. Mandic83, V. Mangano38, G. L. Mansell22, M. Manske18, M. Mantovani36, F. Marchesoni122,35, F. Marion8, S. Márka41, Z. Márka41, A. S. Markosyan42, E. Maros1, F. Martelli57,58, L. Martellini54, I. W. Martin38, D. V. Martynov12, J. N. Marx1, K. Mason12, A. Masserot8, T. J. Massinger37, M. Masso-Reid38, S. Mastrogiovanni79,30, F. Matichard12, L. Matone41, N. Mavalvala12, N. Mazumder56, R. McCarthy39, D. E. McClelland22, S. McCormick7, S. C. McGuire123, G. McIntyre1, J. McIver1, D. J. McManus22, T. McRae22, S. T. McWilliams75, D. Meacher90, G. D. Meadors31,10, J. Meidam11, A. Melatos84, G. Mendell39, R. A. Mercer18, E. L. Merilh39, M. Merzougui54, S. Meshkov1, C. Messenger38, C. Messick90, R. Metzdorff60, P. M. Meyers83, F. Mezzani30,79, H. Miao46, C. Michel66, H. Middleton46, E. E. Mikhailov124, L. Milano68,5, A. L. Miller6,79,30, A. Miller82, B. B. Miller82, J. Miller12, M. Millhouse33, Y. Minenkov15, J. Ming31, S. Mirshekari125, C. Mishra17, S. Mitra16, V. P. Mitrofanov50, G. Mitselmakher6, R. Mittleman12, A. Moggi21, M. Mohan36, S. R. P. Mohapatra12, M. Montani57,58, B. C. Moore92, C. J. Moore126, D. Moraru39, G. Moreno39, S. R. Morriss87, K. Mossavi10, B. Mours8, C. M. Mow-Lowry46, G. Mueller6, A. W. Muir91, Arunava Mukherjee17, D. Mukherjee18, S. Mukherjee87, N. Mukund16, A. Mullavey7, J. Munch113, D. J. Murphy41, P. G. Murray38, A. Mytidis6, I. Nardecchia27,15, L. Naticchioni79,30, R. K. Nayak127, K. Nedkova120, G. Nelemans53,11, T. J. N. Nelson7, M. Neri47,48, A. Neunzert102, G. Newton38, T. T. Nguyen22, A. B. Nielsen10, S. Nissanke53,11, A. Nitz10, F. Nocera36, D. Nolting7, M. E. N. Normandin87, L. K. Nuttall37, J. Oberling39, E. Ochsner18, J. O’Dell128, E. Oelker12, G. H. Ogin129, J. J. Oh130, S. H. Oh130, F. Ohme91, M. Oliver106, P. Oppermann10, Richard J. Oram7, B. O’Reilly7, R. O’Shaughnessy104, D. J. Ottaway113, H. Overmier7, B. J. Owen72, A. Pai109, S. A. Pai49, J. R. Palamos59, O. Palashov110, C. Palomba30, A. Pal-Singh29, H. Pan73, C. Pankow82, F. Pannarale91, B. C. Pant49, F. Paoletti36,21, A. Paoli36, M. A. Papa31,18,10, H. R. Paris42, W. Parker7, D. Pascucci38, A. Pasqualetti36, R. Passaquieti20,21, D. Passuello21, B. Patricelli20,21, Z. Patrick42, B. L. Pearlstone38, M. Pedraza1, R. Pedurand66,131, L. Pekowsky37, A. Pele7, S. Penn132, A. Perreca1, L. M. Perri82, H. P. Pfeiffer95,31, M. Phelps38, O. J. Piccinni79,30, M. Pichot54, F. Piergiovanni57,58, V. Pierro9, G. Pillant36, L. Pinard66, I. M. Pinto9, M. Pitkin38, M. Poe18, R. Poggiani20,21, P. Popolizio36, A. Post10, J. Powell38, J. Prasad16, V. Predoi91, T. Prestegard83, L. R. Price1, M. Prijatelj10,36, M. Principe9, S. Privitera31, R. Prix10, G. A. Prodi88,89, L. Prokhorov50, O. Puncken10, M. Punturo35, P. Puppo30, M. Pürrer31, H. Qi18, J. Qin52, S. Qiu116, V. Quetschke87, E. A. Quintero1, R. Quitzow-James59, F. J. Raab39, D. S. Rabeling22, H. Radkins39, P. Raffai93, S. Raja49, C. Rajan49, M. Rakhmanov87, P. Rapagnani79,30, V. Raymond31, M. Razzano20,21, V. Re27, J. Read24, C. M. Reed39, T. Regimbau54, L. Rei48, S. Reid51, D. H. Reitze1,6, H. Rew124, S. D. Reyes37, F. Ricci79,30, K. Riles102, M. Rizzo104, N. A. Robertson1,38, R. Robie38, F. Robinet25, A. Rocchi15, L. Rolland8, J. G. Rollins1, V. J. Roma59, J. D. Romano87, R. Romano4,5, G. Romanov124, J. H. Romie7, D. Rosińska133,45, S. Rowan38, A. Rüdiger10, P. Ruggi36, K. Ryan39, S. Sachdev1, T. Sadecki39, L. Sadeghian18, M. Sakellariadou134, L. Salconi36, M. Saleem109, F. Salemi10, A. Samajdar127, L. Sammut116, E. J. Sanchez1, V. Sandberg39, B. Sandeen82, J. R. Sanders37, B. Sassolas66, B. S. Sathyaprakash91, P. R. Saulson37, O. E. S. Sauter102, R. L. Savage39, A. Sawadsky19, P. Schale59, R. Schilling10,b, J. Schmidt10, P. Schmidt1,77, R. Schnabel29, R. M. S. Schofield59, A. Schönbeck29, E. Schreiber10, D. Schuette10,19, B. F. Schutz91,31, J. Scott38, S. M. Scott22, D. Sellers7, A. S. Sengupta97, D. Sentenac36, V. Sequino27,15, A. Sergeev110, Y. Setyawati53,11, D. A. Shaddock22, T. Shaffer39, M. S. Shahriar82, M. Shaltev10, B. Shapiro42, P. Shawhan64, A. Sheperd18, D. H. Shoemaker12, D. M. Shoemaker65, K. Siellez65, X. Siemens18, M. Sieniawska45, D. Sigg39, A. D. Silva13, A. Singer1, L. P. Singer69, A. Singh31,10,19, R. Singh2, A. Singhal14, A. M. Sintes106, B. J. J. Slagmolen22, J. R. Smith24, N. D. Smith1, R. J. E. Smith1, E. J. Son130, B. Sorazu38, F. Sorrentino48, T. Souradeep16, A. K. Srivastava85, A. Staley41, M. Steinke10, J. Steinlechner38, S. Steinlechner38, D. Steinmeyer10,19, B. C. Stephens18, S. P. Stevenson46, R. Stone87, K. A. Strain38, N. Straniero66, G. Stratta57,58, N. A. Strauss61, S. Strigin50, R. Sturani125, A. L. Stuver7, T. Z. Summerscales135, L. Sun84, S. Sunil85, P. J. Sutton91, B. L. Swinkels36, M. J. Szczepańczyk99, M. Tacca32, D. Talukder59, D. B. Tanner6, M. Tápai98, S. P. Tarabrin10, A. Taracchini31, R. Taylor1, T. Theeg10, M. P. Thirugnanasambandam1, E. G. Thomas46, M. Thomas7, P. Thomas39, K. A. Thorne7, E. Thrane116, S. Tiwari14,89, V. Tiwari91, K. V. Tokmakov108, K. Toland38, C. Tomlinson86, M. Tonelli20,21, Z. Tornasi38, C. V. Torres87,c, C. I. Torrie1, D. Töyrä46, F. Travasso34,35, G. Traylor7, D. Trifirò23, M. C. Tringali88,89, L. Trozzo136,21, M. Tse12, M. Turconi54, D. Tuyenbayev87, D. Ugolini137, C. S. Unnikrishnan100, A. L. Urban18, S. A. Usman37, H. Vahlbruch19, G. Vajente1, G. Valdes87, M. Vallisneri77, N. van Bakel11, M. van Beuzekom11, J. F. J. van den Brand63,11, C. Van Den Broeck11, D. C. Vander-Hyde37, L. van der Schaaf11, J. V. van Heijningen11, A. A. van Veggel38, M. Vardaro43,44, S. Vass1, M. Vasúth40, R. Vaulin12, A. Vecchio46, G. Vedovato44, J. Veitch46, P. J. Veitch113, K. Venkateswara138, D. Verkindt8, F. Vetrano57,58, A. Viceré57,58, S. Vinciguerra46, D. J. Vine51, J.-Y. Vinet54, S. Vitale12, T. Vo37, H. Vocca34,35, C. Vorvick39, D. V. Voss6, W. D. Vousden46, S. P. Vyatchanin50, A. R. Wade22, L. E. Wade139, M. Wade139, M. Walker2, L. Wallace1, S. Walsh31,10, G. Wang14,58, H. Wang46, M. Wang46, X. Wang71, Y. Wang52, R. L. Ward22, J. Warner39, M. Was8, B. Weaver39, L.-W. Wei54, M. Weinert10, A. J. Weinstein1, R. Weiss12, L. Wen52, P. Weßels10, T. Westphal10, K. Wette10, J. T. Whelan104, B. F. Whiting6, R. D. Williams1, A. R. Williamson91, J. L. Willis103, B. Willke19,10, M. H. Wimmer10,19, W. Winkler10, C. C. Wipf1, H. Wittel10,19, G. Woan38, J. Woehler10, J. Worden39, J. L. Wright38, D. S. Wu10, G. Wu7, J. Yablon82, W. Yam12, H. Yamamoto1, C. C. Yancey64, H. Yu12, M. Yvert8, A. Zadrożny114, L. Zangrando44, M. Zanolin99, J.-P. Zendri44, M. Zevin82, L. Zhang1, M. Zhang124, Y. Zhang104, C. Zhao52, M. Zhou82, Z. Zhou82, X. J. Zhu52, M. E. Zucker1,12, S. E. Zuraw120, and J. Zweizig1 (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration)

M. Boyle140, D. Hemberger77, L. E. Kidder140, G. Lovelace24, S. Ossokine31, M. Scheel77, B. Szilagyi77,141, and S. Teukolsky140

  • 1LIGO, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
  • 2Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA
  • 3American University, Washington, DC 20016, USA
  • 4Università di Salerno, Fisciano, I-84084 Salerno, Italy
  • 5INFN, Sezione di Napoli, Complesso Universitario di Monte S.Angelo, I-80126 Napoli, Italy
  • 6University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA
  • 7LIGO Livingston Observatory, Livingston, Louisiana 70754, USA
  • 8Laboratoire d’Annecy-le-Vieux de Physique des Particules (LAPP), Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS/IN2P3, F-74941 Annecy-le-Vieux, France
  • 9University of Sannio at Benevento, I-82100 Benevento, Italy and INFN, Sezione di Napoli, I-80100 Napoli, Italy
  • 10Albert-Einstein-Institut, Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, D-30167 Hannover, Germany
  • 11Nikhef, Science Park, 1098 XG Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 12LIGO, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
  • 13Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, 12227-010 São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil
  • 14INFN, Gran Sasso Science Institute, I-67100 L’Aquila, Italy
  • 15INFN, Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata, I-00133 Roma, Italy
  • 16Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune 411007, India
  • 17International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore 560012, India
  • 18University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201, USA
  • 19Leibniz Universität Hannover, D-30167 Hannover, Germany
  • 20Università di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa, Italy
  • 21INFN, Sezione di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa, Italy
  • 22Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia
  • 23The University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi 38677, USA
  • 24California State University Fullerton, Fullerton, California 92831, USA
  • 25LAL, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France
  • 26Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai 603103, India
  • 27Università di Roma Tor Vergata, I-00133 Roma, Italy
  • 28University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom
  • 29Universität Hamburg, D-22761 Hamburg, Germany
  • 30INFN, Sezione di Roma, I-00185 Roma, Italy
  • 31Albert-Einstein-Institut, Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
  • 32APC, AstroParticule et Cosmologie, Université Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/Irfu, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, F-75205 Paris Cedex 13, France
  • 33Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA
  • 34Università di Perugia, I-06123 Perugia, Italy
  • 35INFN, Sezione di Perugia, I-06123 Perugia, Italy
  • 36European Gravitational Observatory (EGO), I-56021 Cascina, Pisa, Italy
  • 37Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA
  • 38SUPA, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, United Kingdom
  • 39LIGO Hanford Observatory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA
  • 40Wigner RCP, RMKI, H-1121 Budapest, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 29-33, Hungary
  • 41Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA
  • 42Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
  • 43Università di Padova, Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, I-35131 Padova, Italy
  • 44INFN, Sezione di Padova, I-35131 Padova, Italy
  • 45CAMK-PAN, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland
  • 46University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom
  • 47Università degli Studi di Genova, I-16146 Genova, Italy
  • 48INFN, Sezione di Genova, I-16146 Genova, Italy
  • 49RRCAT, Indore MP 452013, India
  • 50Faculty of Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 119991, Russia
  • 51SUPA, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley PA1 2BE, United Kingdom
  • 52University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia
  • 53Department of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands
  • 54Artemis, Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Observatoire Côte d’Azur, CS 34229, Nice cedex 4, France
  • 55Institut de Physique de Rennes, CNRS, Université de Rennes 1, F-35042 Rennes, France
  • 56Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164, USA
  • 57Università degli Studi di Urbino “Carlo Bo”, I-61029 Urbino, Italy
  • 58INFN, Sezione di Firenze, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy
  • 59University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA
  • 60Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, UPMC-Sorbonne Universités, CNRS, ENS-PSL Research University, Collège de France, F-75005 Paris, France
  • 61Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota 55057, USA
  • 62Astronomical Observatory Warsaw University, 00-478 Warsaw, Poland
  • 63VU University Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 64University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
  • 65Center for Relativistic Astrophysics and School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
  • 66Laboratoire des Matériaux Avancés (LMA), CNRS/IN2P3, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France
  • 67Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France
  • 68Università di Napoli “Federico II”, Complesso Universitario di Monte S.Angelo, I-80126 Napoli, Italy
  • 69NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA
  • 70RESCEU, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
  • 71Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
  • 72Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409, USA
  • 73National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu City, 30013 Taiwan, Republic of China
  • 74Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia
  • 75West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506, USA
  • 76University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
  • 77Caltech CaRT, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
  • 78Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, Daejeon 305-806, Korea
  • 79Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, I-00185 Roma, Italy
  • 80University of Brussels, Brussels 1050, Belgium
  • 81Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California 94928, USA
  • 82Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration & Research in Astrophysics (CIERA), Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA
  • 83University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
  • 84The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
  • 85Institute for Plasma Research, Bhat, Gandhinagar 382428, India
  • 86The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom
  • 87The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, TX 78520, USA
  • 88Università di Trento, Dipartimento di Fisica, I-38123 Povo, Trento, Italy
  • 89INFN, Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications, I-38123 Povo, Trento, Italy
  • 90The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
  • 91Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, United Kingdom
  • 92Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey 07043, USA
  • 93MTA Eötvös University, “Lendulet” Astrophysics Research Group, Budapest 1117, Hungary
  • 94National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
  • 95Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H8, Canada
  • 96School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, United Kingdom
  • 97Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar Ahmedabad Gujarat 382424, India
  • 98University of Szeged, Dóm tér 9, Szeged 6720, Hungary
  • 99Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, Arizona 86301, USA
  • 100Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 400005, India
  • 101INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, I-80131, Napoli, Italy
  • 102University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
  • 103Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas 79699, USA
  • 104Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York 14623, USA
  • 105NCSA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
  • 106Universitat de les Illes Balears, IAC3—IEEC, E-07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
  • 107University of Białystok, 15-424 Białystok, Poland
  • 108SUPA, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, United Kingdom
  • 109IISER-TVM, CET Campus, Trivandrum Kerala 695016, India
  • 110Institute of Applied Physics, Nizhny Novgorod, 603950, Russia
  • 111Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Korea
  • 112Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Korea
  • 113University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
  • 114NCBJ, 05-400 Świerk-Otwock, Poland
  • 115IM-PAN, 00-956 Warsaw, Poland
  • 116Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia
  • 117Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea
  • 118The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, China
  • 119University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama 35899, USA
  • 120University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA
  • 121ESPCI, CNRS, F-75005 Paris, France
  • 122Università di Camerino, Dipartimento di Fisica, I-62032 Camerino, Italy
  • 123Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70813, USA
  • 124College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23187, USA
  • 125Instituto de Física Teórica, University Estadual Paulista/ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research, São Paulo SP 01140-070, Brazil
  • 126University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, United Kingdom
  • 127IISER-Kolkata, Mohanpur, West Bengal 741252, India
  • 128Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, HSIC, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
  • 129Whitman College, 345 Boyer Avenue, Walla Walla, Washington 99362 USA
  • 130National Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Daejeon 305-390, Korea
  • 131Université de Lyon, F-69361 Lyon, France
  • 132Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York 14456, USA
  • 133Janusz Gil Institute of Astronomy, University of Zielona Góra, 65-265 Zielona Góra, Poland
  • 134King’s College London, University of London, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
  • 135Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan 49104, USA
  • 136Università di Siena, I-53100 Siena, Italy
  • 137Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas 78212, USA
  • 138University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
  • 139Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio 43022, USA
  • 140Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
  • 141Caltech JPL, Pasadena, California 91109, USA

  • *Full author list given at end of the article.
  • aDeceased, March 2016.
  • bDeceased, May 2015.
  • cDeceased, March 2015.

Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 241103 – Published 15 June, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.241103

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.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Focus

LIGO Bags Another Black Hole Merger

Published 15 June, 2016

LIGO has detected a second burst of gravitational waves from merging black holes, suggesting that such detections will soon become routine and part of a new kind of astronomy.

See more in Physics

Article Text

References (89)

  1. A. Einstein, Sitzungsber. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. 1, 688 (1916).
  2. J. Aasi et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration), Classical Quantum Gravity 32, 074001 (2015).
  3. B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 131103 (2016).
  4. B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 061102 (2016).
  5. B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration), https://dcc.ligo.org/LIGO-P1600088/public/main.
  6. N. Wiener, Extrapolation, Interpolation, and Smoothing of Stationary Time Series (Wiley, New York, 1949).
  7. B. S. Sathyaprakash and S. V. Dhurandhar, Phys. Rev. D 44, 3819 (1991).
  8. C. Cutler et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 2984 (1993).
  9. B. J. Owen, Phys. Rev. D 53, 6749 (1996).
  10. B. Allen, W. G. Anderson, P. R. Brady, D. A. Brown, and J. D. E. Creighton, Phys. Rev. D 85, 122006 (2012).
  11. B. Allen, Phys. Rev. D 71, 062001 (2005).
  12. K. Cannon, A. Chapman, C. Hanna, D. Keppel, A. C. Searle, and A. J. Weinstein, Phys. Rev. D 82, 044025 (2010).
  13. S. Babak, R. Biswas, P. Brady, D. Brown, K. Cannon et al., Phys. Rev. D 87, 024033 (2013).
  14. S. A. Usman et al., arXiv:1508.02357.
  15. K. Cannon, R. Cariou, A. Chapman, M. Crispin-Ortuzar, N. Fotopoulos et al., Astrophys. J. 748, 136 (2012).
  16. S. Privitera, S. R. P. Mohapatra, P. Ajith, K. Cannon, N. Fotopoulos, M. A. Frei, C. Hanna, A. J. Weinstein, and J. T. Whelan, Phys. Rev. D 89, 024003 (2014).
  17. C. Messick, K. Blackburn, P. Brady, P. Brockill, K. Cannon, S. Caudill, S. J. Chamberlin, J. D. E. Creighton, R. Everett, C. Hanna, R. N. Lang, T. G. F. Li, D. Meacher, C. Pankow, S. Privitera, H. Qi, S. Sachdev, L. Sadeghian, B. Sathyaprakash, L. Singer, E. G. Thomas, L. Wade, M. Wade, and A. Weinstein, arXiv:1604.04324.
  18. B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 93, 122003 (2016).
  19. L. S. Finn and D. F. Chernoff, Phys. Rev. D 47, 2198 (1993).
  20. E. E. Flanagan and S. A. Hughes, Phys. Rev. D 57, 4535 (1998).
  21. J. Veitch, V. Raymond, B. Farr, W. Farr, P. Graff, S. Vitale, B. Aylott, K. Blackburn, N. Christensen, M. Coughlin, W. Del Pozzo, F. Feroz, J. Gair, C.-J. Haster, V. Kalogera, T. Littenberg, I. Mandel, R. O’Shaughnessy, M. Pitkin, C. Rodriguez, C. Röver, T. Sidery, R. Smith, M. Van Der Sluys, A. Vecchio, W. Vousden, and L. Wade, Phys. Rev. D 91, 042003 (2015).
  22. L. K. Nuttall et al., Classical Quantum Gravity 32, 245005 (2015).
  23. B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration), Classical Quantum Gravity 33, 134001 (2016).
  24. H. Lorentz and J. Droste, Versl. K. Akad Wet. Amsterdam 26, 392 (1917).
  25. A. Einstein, L. Infeld, and B. Hoffmann, Ann. Math. 39, 65 (1938).
  26. L. Blanchet, T. Damour, B. R. Iyer, C. M. Will, and A. G. Wiseman, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 3515 (1995).
  27. L. Blanchet, T. Damour, G. Esposito-Farèse, and B. R. Iyer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 091101 (2004).
  28. L. Blanchet, Living Rev. Relativ. 17, 2 (2014).
  29. A. Buonanno and T. Damour, Phys. Rev. D 62, 064015 (2000).
  30. A. Buonanno and T. Damour, Phys. Rev. D 59, 084006 (1999).
  31. T. Damour, P. Jaranowski, and G. Schäfer, Phys. Rev. D 78, 024009 (2008).
  32. T. Damour and A. Nagar, Phys. Rev. D 79, 081503 (2009).
  33. E. Barausse and A. Buonanno, Phys. Rev. D 81, 084024 (2010).
  34. F. Pretorius, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 121101 (2005).
  35. M. Campanelli, C. O. Lousto, P. Marronetti, and Y. Zlochower, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 111101 (2006).
  36. J. G. Baker, J. R. van Meter, S. T. McWilliams, J. Centrella, and B. J. Kelly, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 181101 (2007).
  37. I. Hinder et al., Classical Quantum Gravity 31, 025012 (2014).
  38. A. H. Mroué et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 241104 (2013).
  39. S. Husa, S. Khan, M. Hannam, M. Pürrer, F. Ohme, X. J. Forteza, and A. Bohé, Phys. Rev. D 93, 044006 (2016).
  40. LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration, Gamma-ray Coordinates Network Circular 18728 (2015) [http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/].
  41. L. P. Singer and L. R. Price, Phys. Rev. D 93, 024013 (2016).
  42. A. Taracchini, A. Buonanno, Y. Pan, T. Hinderer, M. Boyle, D. A. Hemberger, L. E. Kidder, G. Lovelace, A. H. Mroué, H. P. Pfeiffer, M. A. Scheel, B. Szilágyi, N. W. Taylor, and A. Zenginoglu, Phys. Rev. D 89, 061502 (2014).
  43. M. Pürrer, Phys. Rev. D 93, 064041 (2016).
  44. B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 93, 122004 (2016).
  45. C. Cutler and E. E. Flanagan, Phys. Rev. D 49, 2658 (1994).
  46. D. V. Martynov et al., Phys. Rev. D 93, 112004 (2016).
  47. S. Chatterji, L. Blackburn, G. Martin, and E. Katsavounidis, Classical Quantum Gravity 21, S1809 (2004).
  48. B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration), arXiv:1602.03845.
  49. A. Effler, R. M. S. Schofield, V. V. Frolov, G. Gonzalez, K. Kawabe, J. R. Smith, J. Birch, and R. McCarthy, Classical Quantum Gravity 32, 035017 (2015).
  50. C. Capano, I. Harry, S. Privitera, and A. Buonanno, Phys. Rev. D 93, 124007 (2016).
  51. D. A. Brown, I. Harry, A. Lundgren, and A. H. Nitz, Phys. Rev. D 86, 084017 (2012).
  52. I. W. Harry, B. Allen, and B. S. Sathyaprakash, Phys. Rev. D 80, 104014 (2009).
  53. P. Ajith, N. Fotopoulos, S. Privitera, A. Neunzert, N. Mazumder, and A. J. Weinstein, Phys. Rev. D 89, 084041 (2014).
  54. B. J. Owen and B. S. Sathyaprakash, Phys. Rev. D 60, 022002 (1999).
  55. T. Cokelaer, Phys. Rev. D 76, 102004 (2007).
  56. C. Capano, T. Dent, Y.-M. Hu, M. Hendry, C. Messenger, and J. Veitch, arXiv:1601.00130.
  57. B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 241102 (2016).
  58. M. Hannam, P. Schmidt, A. Bohé, L. Haegel, S. Husa, F. Ohme, G. Pratten, and M. Pürrer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 151101 (2014).
  59. S. Khan, S. Husa, M. Hannam, F. Ohme, M. Pürrer, X. J. Forteza, and A. Bohé, Phys. Rev. D 93, 044007 (2016).
  60. LIGO Scientific Collaboration, LSC algorithm library, https://www.lsc-group.phys.uwm.edu/daswg/projects/lal.html.
  61. A. Krolak and B. F. Schutz, Gen. Relativ. Gravit. 19, 1163 (1987).
  62. P. A. R. Ade et al. (Planck Collaboration), arXiv:1502.01589.
  63. J. Healy, C. O. Lousto, and Y. Zlochower, Phys. Rev. D 90, 104004 (2014).
  64. X. Jiménez Forteza et al., Phenomenological fit of the peak luminosity from non-precessing binary-black-hole coalescences, LIGO Project Technical Report number No. LIGO-T1600018, 2016, https://dcc.ligo.org/LIGO-T1600018/public.
  65. N. K. Johnson-McDaniel et al., Determining the final spin of a binary black hole system including in-plane spins: Method and checks of accuracy, LIGO Project Technical Report No. LIGO-T1600168, 2016, https://dcc.ligo.org/LIGO-T1600168/public.
  66. C. E. Rhoades, Jr. and R. Ruffini, Phys. Rev. Lett. 32, 324 (1974).
  67. J. M. Lattimer, Annu. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci. 62, 485 (2012).
  68. B. F. Schutz, Nature (London) 323, 310 (1986).
  69. N. Dalal, D. E. Holz, S. A. Hughes, and B. Jain, Phys. Rev. D 74, 063006 (2006).
  70. P. Ajith, M. Hannam, S. Husa, Y. Chen, B. Brügmann, N. Dorband, D. Müller, F. Ohme, D. Pollney, C. Reisswig, L. Santamaría, and J. Seiler, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 241101 (2011).
  71. L. Santamaría, F. Ohme, P. Ajith, B. Brügmann, N. Dorband, M. Hannam, S. Husa, P. Mösta, D. Pollney, C. Reisswig, E. L. Robinson, J. Seiler, and B. Krishnan, Phys. Rev. D 82, 064016 (2010).
  72. P. Schmidt, F. Ohme, and M. Hannam, Phys. Rev. D 91, 024043 (2015).
  73. B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 221101 (2016).
  74. SXS Collaboration, “SXS Gravitational Waveform Database, Simulation SXS:BBH:0317,” http://www.black-holes.org/waveforms/.
  75. LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Numerical relativity injection infrastructure, http://dcc.ligo.org/LIGO-T1500606/public.
  76. F. Ozel, D. Psaltis, R. Narayan, and J. E. McClintock, Astrophys. J. 725, 1918 (2010).
  77. W. M. Farr, N. Sravan, A. Cantrell, L. Kreidberg, C. D. Bailyn, I. Mandel, and V. Kalogera, Astrophys. J. 741, 103 (2011).
  78. L. Kreidberg, C. D. Bailyn, W. M. Farr, and V. Kalogera, Astrophys. J. 757, 36 (2012).
  79. J. Casares and P. G. Jonker, Space Sci. Rev. 183, 223 (2014).
  80. M. C. Miller and J. M. Miller, Phys. Rep. 548, 1 (2015).
  81. B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration), Astrophys. J. 818, L22 (2016).
  82. K. Belczynski, D. E. Holz, T. Bulik, and R. O’Shaughnessy, arXiv:1602.04531.
  83. S. E. de Mink and I. Mandel, arXiv:1603.02291 [Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. (to be published)].
  84. C. L. Rodriguez, C.-J. Haster, S. Chatterjee, V. Kalogera, and F. A. Rasio, arXiv:1604.04254 [Astrophys. J. Lett. (to be published)].
  85. K. Belczynski, T. Bulik, C. L. Fryer, A. Ruiter, J. S. Vink, and J. R. Hurley, Astrophys. J. 714, 1217 (2010).
  86. M. Spera, M. Mapelli, and A. Bressan, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 451, 4086 (2015).
  87. B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 131102 (2016).
  88. B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration), arXiv:1602.03842.
  89. LIGO Open Science Center (LOSC, http://dx.doi.org/10.7935/K5H41PBP.

Outline

Information

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation