Citation: J. Li, and X. L. Fan, The first confirmed gravitational wave detection in LIGO's second observational run, Sci. China-Phys. Mech. Astron. 60, 120431 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-017- In this article, we describe the results concerning the third coincident signal GW170104 from the coalescence of binary black holes (BBHs) during the second observation run (O2). The result was obtained from the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration. Following the first and second gravitational waves (GWs) detections in the first observation run (O1) [1], recently LIGO has observed a third coincident signal GW170104 from the coalescence of BBHs during the second observation run (O2) [2]. The observation was made on January 4, 2017 at 10:11:58.6 UTC through the Hanford and Livingston detectors. The search procedures for this detection were similar to the previous events. With improved data quality and detector sensitivity, the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations found no evidence of instrumental or environmental noise that may have contributed to the GW170104 signal. Based on the matched filter method, the event was detected by the waveform-based PyCBC pipeline [3,4] with a network signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 13 and a false alarm rate of less than 1 in 70000 years; the event was later independently identified by other pipelines.From a coherent Bayesian analysis of the data in both detectors [5,6], the values of the source parameters were recovered by the collaborations with 90% credible intervals. The coalescence of BBHs was located at a luminosity distance, D L , or about 3 billion light years, which is the farthest dis-*Corresponding author (email: fanxilong@outlook.com) tance recorded so far. Therefore the successful detection of such a weak signal at a greater distance has given more confidence. The total mass of the source is ∼ 50M ⊙ , which is in the mass gap of the GW151226 source (∼21M ⊙ ) and the GW150914 source(∼62M ⊙ ). In theory, the formation of such BBHs systems is suggested in a sub-solar metallicity environment [7]. As a subdominant parameter of the BBHs, their effective inspiral spin is inferred, which implies that black holes might spin in any direction [2]. This is the first time that the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations have obtained experimental evidence to show that the spins of BBHs may be antialigned (not excluding zero spins), but the probability seems very low. This research is meaningful in distinguishing the theoretical models for BBHs' formation.Combined with previous events, it provides more confidence for the result of the general relativity (GR) testing. From the modified dispersion test [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] and waveform parametrized test [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25], additional tight constraints on the deviations from GR were obtained. Until now, no significant departure from GR has been found.Searches: As with the searches from the previous detections, the analysis search for the source of GW170104, which is also included online and offline se...