GW190521: A Binary Black Hole Merger with a Total Mass of 150 M
Source
Physical Review Letters
ISSN
00319007
Date Issued
2020-09-04
Author(s)
Abbott, R.
Abbott, T. D.
Abraham, S.
Acernese, F.
Ackley, K.
Adams, C.
Adhikari, R. X.
Adya, V. B.
Affeldt, C.
Agathos, M.
Agatsuma, K.
Aggarwal, N.
Aguiar, O. D.
Aich, A.
Aiello, L.
Ain, A.
Ajith, P.
Akcay, S.
Allen, G.
Allocca, A.
Altin, P. A.
Amato, A.
Anand, S.
Ananyeva, A.
Anderson, S. B.
Anderson, W. G.
Angelova, S. V.
Ansoldi, S.
Antier, S.
Appert, S.
Arai, K.
Araya, M. C.
Areeda, J. S.
Arène, M.
Arnaud, N.
Aronson, S. M.
Arun, K. G.
Asali, Y.
Ascenzi, S.
Ashton, G.
Aston, S. M.
Astone, P.
Aubin, F.
Aufmuth, P.
Aultoneal, K.
Austin, C.
Avendano, V.
Babak, S.
Bacon, P.
Badaracco, F.
Bader, M. K.M.
Bae, S.
Baer, A. M.
Baird, J.
Baldaccini, F.
Ballardin, G.
Ballmer, S. W.
Bals, A.
Balsamo, A.
Baltus, G.
Banagiri, S.
Bankar, D.
Bankar, R. S.
Barayoga, J. C.
Barbieri, C.
Barish, B. C.
Barker, D.
Barkett, K.
Barneo, P.
Barone, F.
Barr, B.
Barsotti, L.
Barsuglia, M.
Barta, D.
Bartlett, J.
Bartos, I.
Bassiri, R.
Basti, A.
Bawaj, M.
Bayley, J. C.
Bazzan, M.
Bécsy, B.
Bejger, M.
Belahcene, I.
Bell, A. S.
Beniwal, D.
Benjamin, M. G.
Bentley, J. D.
Bergamin, F.
Berger, B. K.
Bergmann, G.
Bernuzzi, S.
Berry, C. P.L.
Bersanetti, D.
Bertolini, A.
Betzwieser, J.
Bhandare, R.
Bhandari, A. V.
Bidler, J.
Biggs, E.
Abstract
On May 21, 2019 at 03:02:29 UTC Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo observed a short duration gravitational-wave signal, GW190521, with a three-detector network signal-to-noise ratio of 14.7, and an estimated false-alarm rate of 1 in 4900 yr using a search sensitive to generic transients. If GW190521 is from a quasicircular binary inspiral, then the detected signal is consistent with the merger of two black holes with masses of 85-14+21 Mm and 66-18+17 Mm (90% credible intervals). We infer that the primary black hole mass lies within the gap produced by (pulsational) pair-instability supernova processes, with only a 0.32% probability of being below 65 Mm. We calculate the mass of the remnant to be 142-16+28 Mm, which can be considered an intermediate mass black hole (IMBH). The luminosity distance of the source is 5.3-2.6+2.4 Gpc, corresponding to a redshift of 0.82-0.34+0.28. The inferred rate of mergers similar to GW190521 is 0.13-0.11+0.30 Gpc-3 yr-1.