GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
- LIGO Scientific and
- Virgo
18 pages
Published in:
- Phys.Rev.Lett. 119 (2017) 16, 161101
- Published: Oct 16, 2017
e-Print:
- 1710.05832 [gr-qc]
Report number:
- LIGO-P170817
View in:
Citations per year
Abstract: (APS)
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 of 32.4 and a false-alarm-rate estimate of less than one per 8.0×104 years. We infer the component masses of the binary to be between 0.86 and 2.26 M⊙, in agreement with masses of known neutron stars. Restricting the component spins to the range inferred in binary neutron stars, we find the component masses to be in the range 1.17–1.60 M⊙, with the total mass of the system 2.74-0.01+0.04M⊙. The source was localized within a sky region of 28 deg2 (90% probability) and had a luminosity distance of 40-14+8 Mpc, the closest and most precisely localized gravitational-wave signal yet. The association with the γ-ray burst GRB 170817A, detected by Fermi-GBM 1.7 s after the coalescence, corroborates the hypothesis of a neutron star merger and provides the first direct evidence of a link between these mergers and short γ-ray bursts. Subsequent identification of transient counterparts across the electromagnetic spectrum in the same location further supports the interpretation of this event as a neutron star merger. This unprecedented joint gravitational and electromagnetic observation provides insight into astrophysics, dense matter, gravitation, and cosmology.- neutron star: binary
- binary: mass
- gamma ray: burst
- gravitational radiation
- gravitational radiation: emission
- gravitational radiation: direct detection
- electromagnetic
- gravitation
- gravitational radiation detector
- cosmological model
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