# GW170814: A Three-Detector Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Coalescence

“GW170814: A Three-Detector Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Coalescence” (2017), by B. P. Abbott et al. Physics and Astronomy research paper. Original abstract below, unchanged. A free PDF is available.

- Authors: B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, C. Adams, T. Adams, Paolo Addesso, R.X. Adhikari, V. B. Adya et al.
- Published: October 6, 2017
- Field: Physics and Astronomy
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.119.141101
- Free PDF: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1709.09660

## Abstract

On August 14, 2017 at 10∶30:43 UTC, the Advanced Virgo detector and the two Advanced LIGO detectors coherently observed a transient gravitational-wave signal produced by the coalescence of two stellar mass black holes, with a false-alarm rate of ≲1 in 27 000 years. The signal was observed with a three-detector network matched-filter signal-to-noise ratio of 18. The inferred masses of the initial black holes are 30.5_-3.0^+5.7M⊙ and 25.3_-4.2^+2.8M⊙ (at the 90% credible level). The luminosity distance of the source is 540₋₂₁₀⁺¹³⁰ Mpc, corresponding to a redshift of z=0.11_-0.04^+0.03. A network of three detectors improves the sky localization of the source, reducing the area of the 90% credible region from 1160 deg² using only the two LIGO detectors to 60 deg² using all three detectors. For the first time, we can test the nature of gravitational-wave polarizations from the antenna response of the LIGO-Virgo network, thus enabling a new class of phenomenological tests of gravity.

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