In an extraordinary finding of stellar astrophysics, the LIGO (The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory)-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration, which includes researchers from India, has announced the confident detection of GW231123, the most massive binary black hole (BBH) merger ever observed with high statistical significance.

The gravitational wave (GW) signal captured on 2023 November 23 revealed a powerful collision between 2 blackholes with a total mass between 190 and 265 times that of our sun, culminating in the birth of a massive black hole remnant.

The short-duration signal, lasting only about 0.1 seconds, was detected simultaneously by both the Advanced LIGO Hanford and Livingston detectors, confirming the event's transient nature.

The combination of coherent detections from the two observatories was crucial, preventing the signal, which had a high network signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of around 20.7, from being dismissed as a terrestrial artefact or glitch.  

The record-breaking event poses a challenge to the standard model of stellar formation, which spans our current understanding of how stars and black holes form. The findings directly challenge a long-standing theoretical prediction, the Pair-Instability (PI) Mass Gap.

Source:Researchmatters