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Binary Black Hole Mergers in the First Advanced LIGO Observing RunThe first observational run of the Advanced LIGO detectors, from September 12, 2015 to January 19, 2016, saw the first detections of gravitational waves from binary black hole mergers. In this paper we present full results from a search for binary black hole merger signals with total masses up to 100M solar mass and detailed implications from our observations of these systems. Our search, based on general-relativistic models of gravitational wave signals from binary black hole systems, unambiguously identified two signals, GW150914 and GW151226, with a significance of greater than 5 alpha over the observing period. It also identified a third possible signal, LVT151012, with substantially lower significance, which has a 87 probability of being of astrophysical origin. We provide detailed estimates of the parameters of the observed systems. Both GW150914 and GW151226 provide an unprecedented opportunity to study the two-body motion of a compact-object binary in the large velocity, highly nonlinear regime. We do not observe any deviations from general relativity, and place improved empirical bounds on several high-order post-Newtonian coefficients. From our observations we infer stellar-mass binary black hole merger rates lying in the range 9-240 Gpc-3 yr-1. These observations are beginning to inform astrophysical predictions of binary black hole formation rates, and indicate that future observing runs of the Advanced detector network will yield many more gravitational wave detections.
Document ID
20170003783
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Abbott, B. P.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Abbott, R.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Abbott, T. D.
(Louisiana State Univ. Baton Rouge, LA, United States)
Abernathy, M. R.
(American Univ. Washington, DC, United States)
Acernese, F.
(Universita degli Studi di Salerno Italy)
Ackley, K.
(Florida Univ. Gainesville, FL, United States)
Adams, C.
(LIGO Livingston Observatory Livingston, LA, United States)
Adams, T.
(Grenoble-1 Univ. Annecy, France)
Addesso, F.
(Sannio Univ. Benevento, Italy)
Camp, J. B.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Gehrels, N.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Singer, L. P.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
April 20, 2017
Publication Date
October 21, 2016
Publication Information
Publication: Physical Review X
Publisher: American Physical Society
Volume: 6
Issue: 4
e-ISSN: 2160-3308
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN41960
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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