LIGO Detects Most Massive Black Hole Merger to Date

The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration has detected the most massive black hole merger to date, forming a final black hole around 225 times the Sun's mass. Caltech reports: Before now, the most massive black hole merger -- produced by an event that took place in 2021 called GW190521 -- had a total mass of 140 times that of the Sun. In the more recent GW231123 event, the 225-solar-mass black hole was created by the coalescence of black holes each approximately 100 and 140 times the mass of the Sun. In addition to their high masses, the black holes are also rapidly spinning.

'The black holes appear to be spinning very rapidly -- near the limit allowed by Einstein's theory of general relativity,' explains Charlie Hoy of the University of Portsmouth and a member of the LVK. 'That makes the signal difficult to model and interpret. It's an excellent case study for pushing forward the development of our theoretical tools.' Researchers are continuing to refine their analysis and improve the models used to interpret such extreme events. 'It will take years for the community to fully unravel this intricate signal pattern and all its implications,' says Gregorio Carullo of the University of Birmingham and a member of the LVK. 'Despite the most likely explanation remaining a black hole merger, more complex scenarios could be the key to deciphering its unexpected features. Exciting times ahead!'

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