Recent gravitational wave observation based on the data from GW150914 has confirmed Hawking’s area theorem and estimated the increase in total horizon area during a merger process of two Kerr black holes. We use this result and the validity of the second law to obtain the first observational bound on the 4D topological Gauss-Bonnet coupling as $\gamma \lesssim 2.804_{-1.169}^{+7.946}\times {10}^9{\mathrm{m}}^2$ with 95% credibility.

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• Alternative gravity theories
• Gravitation
• Gravitational waves