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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Gw151226: Observation Of Gravitational Waves From A 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence, B. P. Abbott, K. Gill, B. Hughey, M. J. Szczepanczyk, M. Zanolin, Et Al. Nov 2017

Gw151226: Observation Of Gravitational Waves From A 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence, B. P. Abbott, K. Gill, B. Hughey, M. J. Szczepanczyk, M. Zanolin, Et Al.

Michele Zanolin

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 5 σ. 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 …


Observing Gravitational-Wave Transient Gw150914 With Minimal Assumptions, B. P. Abbott, K. Gill, B. Hughey, M. Szczepańczyk, M. Zanolin, Et Al. Nov 2017

Observing Gravitational-Wave Transient Gw150914 With Minimal Assumptions, B. P. Abbott, K. Gill, B. Hughey, M. Szczepańczyk, M. Zanolin, Et Al.

Michele Zanolin

The gravitational-wave signal GW150914 was first identified on September 14, 2015, by searches for short-duration gravitational-wave transients. These searches identify time-correlated transients in multiple detectors with minimal assumptions about the signal morphology, allowing them to be sensitive to gravitational waves emitted by a wide range of sources including binary black hole mergers. Over the observational period from September 12 to October 20, 2015, these transient searches were sensitive to binary black hole mergers similar to GW150914 to an average distance of ∼600  Mpc. In this paper, we describe the analyses that first detected GW150914 as well as the parameter estimation …


Full Band All-Sky Search For Periodic Gravitational Waves In The O1 Ligo Data, B. P. Abbott, K. Aultoneal, S. Gaudio, K. Gill, E. M. Gretarsson, B. Hughey, M. Muratore, J. W. W. Pratt, S. G. Schwalbe, K. Staats, M. J. Szczepańczyk, M. Zanolin, Et Al. Sep 2017

Full Band All-Sky Search For Periodic Gravitational Waves In The O1 Ligo Data, B. P. Abbott, K. Aultoneal, S. Gaudio, K. Gill, E. M. Gretarsson, B. Hughey, M. Muratore, J. W. W. Pratt, S. G. Schwalbe, K. Staats, M. J. Szczepańczyk, M. Zanolin, Et Al.

Publications

We report on an all-sky search for periodic gravitational waves in the frequency band 20–475 Hz and with a frequency time derivative in the range of [−1.0,+0.1]×10−8  Hz/s. Such a signal could be produced by a nearby spinning and slightly nonaxisymmetric isolated neutron star in our galaxy. This search uses the data from Advanced LIGO’s first observational run, O1. No periodic gravitational wave signals were observed, and upper limits were placed on their strengths. The lowest upper limits on worst-case (linearly polarized) strain amplitude h0 are ∼4×10−25 near 170 Hz. For a circularly polarized source (most favorable orientation), the smallest …


Gw170104: Observation Of A 50-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence At Redshift 0.2, B. P. Abbott, K. Aultoneal, S. Gaudio, K. Gill, B. Hughey, J. W. W. Pratt, E. Schmidt, G. Schwalbe, M. J. Szczepańczyk, M. Zanolin, Et Al. Jun 2017

Gw170104: Observation Of A 50-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence At Redshift 0.2, B. P. Abbott, K. Aultoneal, S. Gaudio, K. Gill, B. Hughey, J. W. W. Pratt, E. Schmidt, G. Schwalbe, M. J. Szczepańczyk, M. Zanolin, Et Al.

Publications

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 þ8.4 −6.0M⊙ and 19.4 þ5.3 −5.9M⊙ (at the 90% credible level). The black hole spins are best constrained through measurement of the effective inspiral spin parameter, …


Gravitational-Wave Science With The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, Madeline Wade May 2017

Gravitational-Wave Science With The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, Madeline Wade

Madeline Wade

Gravitational-waves, as predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, are oscillations of spacetime caused by the motion of masses. Although not yet directly detected, there is strong evidence for the existence of gravitational-waves. Detectable gravitational waves will come from dramatic astrophysical events, such as supernova explosions and collisions of black holes. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) is a network of detectors designed to make the first direct detection of gravitational waves. The upgraded version of LIGO, Advanced LIGO (aLIGO), will offer a dramatic improvement in sensitivity that will virtually guarantee detections. Gravitational-wave detections will not only illuminate mysterious astrophysical …


The Basic Physics Of The Binary Black Hole Merger Gw150914, B. P. Abbott, K. Gill, B. Hughey, J. Pratt, M. J. Szczepańczyk, M. Zanolin, Et Al. Jan 2017

The Basic Physics Of The Binary Black Hole Merger Gw150914, B. P. Abbott, K. Gill, B. Hughey, J. Pratt, M. J. Szczepańczyk, M. Zanolin, Et Al.

Publications

The first direct gravitational-wave detection was made by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory on September 14, 2015. The GW150914 signal was strong enough to be apparent, without using any waveform model, in the filtered detector strain data. Here, features of the signal visible in the data are analyzed using concepts from Newtonian physics and general relativity, accessible to anyone with a general physics background. The simple analysis presented here is consistent with the fully general-relativistic analyses published elsewhere, in showing that the signal was produced by the inspiral and subsequent merger of two black holes. The black holes …