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GW170814: A Three-Detector Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Coalescence

B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration)
Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 141101 – Published 6 October 2017
Physics logo See Focus story: Three-Way Detection of Gravitational Waves

Abstract

On August 14, 2017 at 10∶30:43 UTC, the Advanced Virgo detector and the two Advanced LIGO detectors coherently observed a transient gravitational-wave signal produced by the coalescence of two stellar mass black holes, with a false-alarm rate of 1 in 27 000 years. The signal was observed with a three-detector network matched-filter signal-to-noise ratio of 18. The inferred masses of the initial black holes are 30.53.0+5.7M and 25.34.2+2.8M (at the 90% credible level). The luminosity distance of the source is 540210+130Mpc, corresponding to a redshift of z=0.110.04+0.03. A network of three detectors improves the sky localization of the source, reducing the area of the 90% credible region from 1160deg2 using only the two LIGO detectors to 60deg2 using all three detectors. For the first time, we can test the nature of gravitational-wave polarizations from the antenna response of the LIGO-Virgo network, thus enabling a new class of phenomenological tests of gravity.

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  • Received 23 September 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.141101

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

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Three-Way Detection of Gravitational Waves

Published 6 October 2017

The first simultaneous detection of gravitational radiation by the LIGO and Virgo detectors greatly improves localization of the source and permits a novel test of general relativity.

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Vol. 119, Iss. 14 — 6 October 2017

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