Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
This paper reported the first direct detection of gravitational waves, recorded on 14 September 2015 by the two LIGO interferometers as the signal GW150914. The observed waveform swept upward in frequency from 35 to 250 Hz and matched general-relativity predictions for the inspiral, merger, and ringdown of a binary black hole system, detected with a matched-filter signal-to-noise ratio of 24 and a significance greater than 5.1σ. The source was inferred to be the merger of black holes of about 36 and 29 solar masses into a final black hole of about 62 solar masses, radiating roughly 3 solar masses of energy as gravitational waves.