2025-09-10 コロンビア大学
When two black holes collide and merge, they release gravitational waves. These waves can be detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA detectors on Earth, allowing scientists to determine the mass and spin of the black holes. The clearest black hole merger signal yet, named GW250114, recorded by LIGO in January 2025, offers new insights into these mysterious cosmic giants. (Maggie Chiang for Simons Foundation)
＜関連情報＞
- https://news.columbia.edu/news/unprecedented-view-merging-black-holes
- https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/kw5g-d732
GW250114：ホーキングの面積定理とブラックホールのカー的性質の検証 GW250114: Testing Hawking’s Area Law and the Kerr Nature of Black Holes
A. G. Abac, I. Abouelfettouh, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, C. Adamcewicz, S. Adhicary, D. Adhikar, N. Adhikari, R. X. Adhikari et al. (LIGO Scientific, Virgo, and KAGRA Collaborations)
Physical Review Letters Published: 10 September, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/kw5g-d732
Abstract
The gravitational-wave signal GW250114 was observed by the two LIGO detectors with a network matched-filter signal-to-noise ratio of 80. The signal was emitted by the coalescence of two black holes with near-equal masses 1=33.6+1.2−0.8⊙ and 2=32.2+0.8−1.3⊙, and small spins 1,2≤0.26 (90% credibility) and negligible eccentricity ≤0.03. Postmerger data excluding the peak region are consistent with the dominant quadrupolar (ℓ=||=2) mode of a Kerr black hole and its first overtone. We constrain the modes’ frequencies to ±30% of the Kerr spectrum, providing a test of the remnant’s Kerr nature. We also examine Hawking’s area law, also known as the second law of black hole mechanics, which states that the total area of the black hole event horizons cannot decrease with time. A range of analyses that exclude up to five of the strongest merger cycles confirm that the remnant area is larger than the sum of the initial areas to high credibility.
