• Editors' Suggestion

New binary black hole mergers in the LIGO-Virgo O3a data

Seth Olsen, Tejaswi Venumadhav, Jonathan Mushkin, Javier Roulet, Barak Zackay, and Matias Zaldarriaga
Phys. Rev. D 106, 043009 – Published 9 August 2022

Abstract

We report the detection of ten new binary black hole (BBH) mergers in the publicly released data from the first half of the third observing run (O3a) of advanced LIGO and advanced Virgo. We identify candidates using an updated version of the search pipeline described in Venumadhav et al. [Phys. Rev. D 100, 023011 (2019)] (the “IAS pipeline” [T. Venumadhav et al., Phys. Rev. D 101, 083030 (2020).]) and compile a catalog of signals that pass a significance threshold of astrophysical probability greater than 0.5 (following the GWTC-2.1 [R. Abbott et al. (The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration), arXiv:2108.01045.] and 3-OGC [A. H. Nitz et al., Astrophys. J. 922, 76 (2021).] catalogs). The updated IAS pipeline is sensitive to a larger region of parameter space, applies a template prior that accounts for different search volume as a function of intrinsic parameters, and uses an improved coherent detection statistic that optimally combines the data from the Hanford and Livingston detectors. Among the ten new events, we observe interesting astrophysical scenarios including sources with confidently large effective spin parameters in both the positive and negative directions, high-mass black holes that are difficult to form in stellar collapse models due to (pulsational) pair instability, and low-mass mergers that bridge the gap between neutron stars and the lightest observed black holes. We infer source parameters in the upper and lower black hole mass gaps with both extreme and near-unity mass ratios, and one of the possible neutron star–black hole (NSBH) mergers is well localized for electromagnetic (EM) counterpart searches. We detect all of the GWTC-2.1 BBH mergers with coincident data in Hanford and Livingston except for three loud events that get vetoed, which is compatible with the false-positive rate of our veto procedure, and three that fall below the detection threshold. We also return to significance the event GW190909_114149, which was reduced to a subthreshold trigger after its initial appearance in GWTC-2 [R. Abbott et al., Phys. Rev. X 11, 021053 (2021).]. This amounts to a total of 42 BBH mergers detected by our pipeline’s search of the coincident Hanford-Livingston O3a data.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
12 More
  • Received 10 February 2022
  • Accepted 11 July 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.106.043009

© 2022 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

Authors & Affiliations

Seth Olsen1,*, Tejaswi Venumadhav2,3, Jonathan Mushkin4, Javier Roulet5, Barak Zackay4, and Matias Zaldarriaga6

  • 1Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, USA
  • 2Department of Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
  • 3International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore 560089, India
  • 4Department of Particle Physics & Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
  • 5Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
  • 6School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study, 1 Einstein Drive, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, USA

  • *srolsen@princeton.edu

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 106, Iss. 4 — 15 August 2022

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
CHORUS

Article Available via CHORUS

Download Accepted Manuscript
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review D

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×