GWTC-1: A Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog of Compact Binary Mergers Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the First and Second Observing Runs

Abstract

We present the results from three gravitational-wave searches for coalescing compact binaries with component masses above 1 M ⊙ during the first and second observing runs of the advanced gravitationalwave detector network. During the first observing run (O1), from September 12, 2015 to January 19, 2016, gravitational waves from three binary black hole mergers were detected. The second observing run (O2), which ran from November 30, 2016 to August 25, 2017, saw the first detection of gravitational waves from a binary neutron star inspiral, in addition to the observation of gravitational waves from a total of seven binary black hole mergers, four of which we report here for the first time: GW170729, GW170809, GW170818, and GW170823. For all significant gravitational-wave events, we provide estimates of the source properties. The detected binary black holes have total masses between 18.6 þ3.2 −0.7 M ⊙ and 84.4 þ15.8 −11.1 M ⊙ and range in distance between 320 þ120 −110 and 2840 þ1400 −1360 Mpc. No neutron star-black hole mergers were detected. In addition to highly significant gravitational-wave events, we also provide a list of marginal event candidates with an estimated false-alarm rate less than 1 per 30 days. From these results over the first two observing runs, which include approximately one gravitational-wave detection per 15 days of data searched, we infer merger rates at the 90% confidence intervals of 110 − 3840 Gpc −3 y −1 for binary neutron stars and 9.7 − 101 Gpc −3 y −1 for binary black holes assuming fixed population distributions and determine a neutron star-black hole merger rate 90% upper limit of 610 Gpc −3 y −1 .

The evolution of primordial black holes and their final observable spins

“…• For the merger events detected so far by LIGO-Virgo, the effective spin parameter of the binary is compatible to zero, except possibly for few high-mass events [3,4,[20][21][22]. We have shown that a primordial origin of these BH binaries could naturally explain this distribution, especially in the likely scenario in which accretion is quenched at z 10 due to structure formation [41].…”

“…where M 1 and M 2 are the individual BH masses, J 1 and J 2 are the corresponding angularmomentum vectors, andL is the direction of the orbital angular momentum. From the observational point of view, there is a general tendency for the effective spin parameter of merger events detected so far to be compatible with zero [3,4], with possible few exceptions [4,[20][21][22] of high-mass events (total mass larger than 50 M ). The available data indicates that the dispersion of χ eff around zero grows with the mass [23].…”

Gravitational waves as a probe of the extra dimension

“…The detection of gravitational waves (GWs) by the LIGO and VIRGO collaborations [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] from a merging of a pair of heavy black holes seems to be consistent with a prediction of Einstein's general relativity. The GW due to the merging of a neutron star pair has also been observed subsequently [10,11], opening new possibilities for astronomical observation and cosmological research.…”

Frequency-Dependent Squeezed Vacuum Source for Broadband Quantum Noise Reduction in Advanced Gravitational-Wave Detectors

“…Gravitational-wave astronomy, started in 2015 with the first detection of a black hole merger by LIGO [1], has rapidly become a mature research field. After the groundbreaking observation of the binary neutron star coalescence GW170817 [2]and the publication of the first gravitational-wave sources catalog [3], the network of advanced interferometric detectors (comprised of the two Advanced LIGO [4] and Advanced Virgo [5]) is now performing a third period of data taking (O3), detecting several candidates per month and sending open alerts to the astronomical community [6]. The Japanese detector, KAGRA [7], is about to join the network and is expected to be followed by a fifth detector, LIGO India, in 2024 [8].…”