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GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral Open
On August 17, 2017 at 12∶41:04 UTC the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detectors made their first observation of a binary neutron star inspiral. The signal, GW170817, was detected with a combined signal-to-noise ratio o…
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GWTC-1: A Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog of Compact Binary Mergers Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the First and Second Observing Runs Open
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 gravitational-wave detector network. During the first…
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GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence Open
We report the observation of a gravitational-wave signal produced by the coalescence of two stellar-mass black holes. The signal, GW151226, was observed by the twin detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO…
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Gravitational Waves and Gamma-Rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A Open
On 2017 August 17, the gravitational-wave event GW170817 was observed by the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors, and the gamma-ray burst (GRB) GRB 170817A was observed independently by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor, and the Anti-Coincid…
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GW170817: Measurements of Neutron Star Radii and Equation of State Open
On 17 August 2017, the LIGO and Virgo observatories made the first direct detection of gravitational waves from the coalescence of a neutron star binary system. The detection of this gravitational-wave signal, GW170817, offers a novel oppo…
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Tests of General Relativity with GW150914 Open
The LIGO detection of GW150914 provides an unprecedented opportunity to study the two-body motion of a compact-object binary in the large-velocity, highly nonlinear regime, and to witness the final merger of the binary and the excitation o…
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GW190425: Observation of a Compact Binary Coalescence with Total Mass ∼ 3.4 M<sub>⊙</sub> Open
On 2019 April 25, the LIGO Livingston detector observed a compact binary coalescence with signal-to-noise ratio 12.9. The Virgo detector was also taking data that did not contribute to detection due to a low signal-to-noise ratio, but were…
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GWTC-3: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the Second Part of the Third Observing Run Open
Plenary Talk presented at the XX International Workshop on Neutrino Telescopes - Venice 23-27 October 2023
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Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger Open
On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst M…
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Properties of the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817 Open
On August 17, 2017, the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detectors observed a low-mass compact binary inspiral. The initial sky localization of the source of the gravitational-wave signal, GW170817, allowed electromagnet…
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Did LIGO Detect Dark Matter? Open
We consider the possibility that the black-hole (BH) binary detected by LIGO may be a signature of dark matter. Interestingly enough, there remains a window for masses 20M_{⊙}≲M_{bh}≲100M_{⊙} where primordial black holes (PBHs) may constit…
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Properties of the Binary Black Hole Merger GW150914 Open
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 even…
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Gravitational-Wave Constraints on the Neutron-Star-Matter Equation of State Open
The detection of gravitational waves originating from a neutron-star merger, GW170817, by the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations has recently provided new stringent limits on the tidal deformabilities of the stars involved in the collision. Com…
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The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. II. UV, Optical, and Near-infrared Light Curves and Comparison to Kilonova Models Open
We present UV, optical, and near-infrared (NIR) photometry of the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave source from Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO)/Virgo, the binary neutron star merg…
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Prospects for observing and localizing gravitational-wave transients with Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo and KAGRA Open
We present our current best estimate of the plausible observing scenarios for the Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo and KAGRA gravitational-wave detectors over the next several years, with the intention of providing information to facilitate p…
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Population Properties of Compact Objects from the Second LIGO–Virgo Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog Open
We report on the population of 47 compact binary mergers detected with a false-alarm rate of < in the second LIGO–Virgo Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog. We observe several characteristics of the merging binary black hole (BBH) populat…
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ASTROPHYSICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE BINARY BLACK HOLE MERGER GW150914 Open
The discovery of the gravitational-wave (GW) source GW150914 with the Advanced LIGO detectors provides the first observational evidence for the existence of binary black hole (BH) systems that inspiral and merge within the age of the unive…
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Tests of general relativity with the binary black hole signals from the LIGO-Virgo catalog GWTC-1 Open
The detection of gravitational waves by Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo provides an opportunity to test general relativity in a regime that is inaccessible to traditional astronomical observations and laboratory tests. We present four tes…
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GW150914: The Advanced LIGO Detectors in the Era of First Discoveries Open
Following a major upgrade, the two advanced detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) held their first observation run between September 2015 and January 2016. With a strain sensitivity of 10^{-23}/sqrt[Hz…
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The Emergence of a Lanthanide-rich Kilonova Following the Merger of Two Neutron Stars Open
We report the discovery and monitoring of the near-infrared counterpart (AT2017gfo) of a binary neutron-star merger event detected as a gravitational wave source by Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO)/Virgo …
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Tests of general relativity with binary black holes from the second LIGO-Virgo gravitational-wave transient catalog Open
Gravitational waves enable tests of general relativity in the highly dynamical and strong-field regime. Using events detected by LIGO-Virgo up to 1 October 2019, we evaluate the consistency of the data with predictions from the theory. We …
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Implications of the Neutron Star Merger GW170817 for Cosmological Scalar-Tensor Theories Open
The LIGO and VIRGO Collaborations have recently announced the detection of gravitational waves from a neutron star-neutron star merger (GW170817) and the simultaneous measurement of an optical counterpart (the γ-ray burst GRB 170817A). The…
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Binary Black Hole Population Properties Inferred from the First and Second Observing Runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo Open
We present results on the mass, spin, and redshift distributions with phenomenological population models using the 10 binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected in the first and second observing runs completed by Advanced LIGO and Advanced V…
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Observation of Gravitational Waves from Two Neutron Star-Black Hole Coalescences Open
We report the observation of gravitational waves from two compact binary coalescences in LIGO's and Virgo's third observing run with properties consistent with neutron star-black hole (NSBH) binaries. The two events are named GW200105_1624…
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GW190412: Observation of a binary-black-hole coalescence with asymmetric masses Open
We report the observation of gravitational waves from a binary-black-hole coalescence during the first two weeks of LIGO’s and Virgo’s third observing run. The signal was recorded on April 12, 2019 at 05∶30∶44 UTC with a network signal-to-…
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Quantum-Enhanced Advanced LIGO Detectors in the Era of Gravitational-Wave Astronomy Open
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) has been directly detecting gravitational waves from compact binary mergers since 2015. We report on the first use of squeezed vacuum states in the direct measurement of gravit…
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Improved effective-one-body model of spinning, nonprecessing binary black holes for the era of gravitational-wave astrophysics with advanced detectors Open
We improve the accuracy of the effective-one-body (EOB) waveforms that were employed during the first observing run of Advanced LIGO for binaries of spinning, nonprecessing black holes by calibrating them to a set of 141 numerical-relativi…
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Binary black hole mergers from globular clusters: Masses, merger rates, and the impact of stellar evolution Open
The recent discovery of GW150914, the binary black hole merger detected by Advanced LIGO, has the potential to revolutionize observational astrophysics. But to fully utilize this new window into the universe, we must compare these new obse…
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Rapid and Bright Stellar-mass Binary Black Hole Mergers in Active Galactic Nuclei Open
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) found direct evidence for double black hole binaries emitting gravitational waves. Galactic nuclei are expected to harbor the densest population of stellar-mass black holes. A …
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The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. I. Discovery of the Optical Counterpart Using the Dark Energy Camera Open
We present the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) discovery of the optical counterpart of the first binary neutron star merger detected through gravitational-wave emission, GW170817. Our observations commenced 10.5 hr post-merger, as soon as the l…