Abstract
On September 14, 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected a gravitational-wave transient (GW150914); we characterize the properties of the source and its parameters. The data around the time of the event were analyzed coherently across the LIGO network using a suite of accurate waveform models that describe gravitational waves from a compact binary system in general relativity. GW150914 was produced by a nearly equal mass binary black hole of masses 36_{-4}^{+5}M_{⊙} and 29_{-4}^{+4}M_{⊙}; for each parameter we report the median value and the range of the 90% credible interval. The dimensionless spin magnitude of the more massive black hole is bound to be <0.7 (at 90% probability). The luminosity distance to the source is 410_{-180}^{+160} Mpc, corresponding to a redshift 0.09_{-0.04}^{+0.03} assuming standard cosmology. The source location is constrained to an annulus section of 610 deg^{2}, primarily in the southern hemisphere. The binary merges into a black hole of mass 62_{-4}^{+4}M_{⊙} and spin 0.67_{-0.07}^{+0.05}. This black hole is significantly more massive than any other inferred from electromagnetic observations in the stellar-mass regime.
Highlights
In Ref. [1] we reported the detection of gravitational waves (GWs), observed on September 14, 2015 at 09:50:45 UTC, by the twin instruments of the twin instruments of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) located at Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana, in the USA [2,3]
The only information from the search stage is the time of arrival of the signal. This analysis differs from the search in the following fundamental ways: it is coherent across the LIGO network, it uses waveform models that include the full richness of the physics introduced by black holes (BHs) spins, and it covers the full multidimensional parameter space of the considered models with a fine sampling; we account for uncertainty in the calibration of the measured strain
For signals that describe precessing binaries, but with orbital angular momentum orientation consistent with the most likely geometry inferred for GW150914, i.e., orbital angular momentum close to aligned or antialigned with the line of sight, we find again that the probability density function (PDF) are consistent across the models and with the true values of the parameters used for the numerical simulation
Summary
In Ref. [1] we reported the detection of gravitational waves (GWs), observed on September 14, 2015 at 09:50:45 UTC, by the twin instruments of the twin instruments of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) located at Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana, in the USA [2,3]. The only information from the search stage is the time of arrival of the signal This analysis differs from the search in the following fundamental ways: it is coherent across the LIGO network, it uses waveform models that include the full richness of the physics introduced by BH spins, and it covers the full multidimensional parameter space of the considered models with a fine (stochastic) sampling; we account for uncertainty in the calibration of the measured strain. The results of this analysis provide the parameter values quoted in Ref.
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