Discovering gravitational waveform distortions from lensing: a deep dive into GW231123
Joey Bowman, Jose María Ezquiaga et al.
Paper
Details
#gravitationalwaves #lensing #GW231123
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#GW231123
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A page of LIGO Magazine article "GW231123 - the most massive black hole merger yet!". The page includes the title of the article and an infographic about GW231123 in blues and yellows. The infographic displays information including the mass of the two black holes (which were 137 and 103 times the mass of our sun), the distance that the signal travelled (between 2 billion light years and 13 billion light years) and how long the signal lasted in the LIGO Livingston and LIGO Hanford detectors (0.1 seconds). Image credit: Simona J. Miller / Caltech.
The image shows a page of LIGO Magazine article "GW231123: the most massive black hole merger yet!". The page includes photos of the two authors, Debnandini Mukherjee & Tanmaya Mishra. Both of them are smiling.
#GW231123 - the most massive black hole merger yet! We also caught up with Debnandini Mukherjee and Tanmaya Mishra on what makes this observation interesting plus their experience of working on the discovery paper.
#GW10Years #GWTC4
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Check out this interview with Debnandini Mukherjee about #GW231123 !
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Fusion record : deux trous noirs (~100 + 140 M☉) créent un trou noir final de ~225 M☉, défiant nos modèles astro !
techno-science.net/actualite/ce...
#Space #Astrophysics #BlackHoleMerge #GW231123 #GravitationalWaves
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Fusion record : deux trous noirs (~100 + 140 M☉) créent un trou noir final de ~225 M☉, défiant nos modèles astro !
techno-science.net/actualite/cette-collisio...
#Space #Astrophysics #BlackHoleMerge #GW231123 […]
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Nature talks to LIGO scientist Debnandini Mukherjee about the discovery of #GW231123
www.nature.com/articles/d44...
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For more details, check out this science summary: ligo.org/science-summaries/gw231123
@ligo.org @egovirgo.bsky.social
#GW231123
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An infographic titled "How BIG are the BLACK HOLES we find with GRAVITATIONAL WAVES?" by @astronerdika. The graphic displays a range of black hole masses detected via gravitational waves, categorized by their size in solar masses (mass of the Sun) and represented with playful cat-like black hole illustrations. The categories from left to right are: 1. "<5 times the mass of the Sun" - Labeled "smol" - Very small black hole illustration represented by a curled up black cat - Arrow pointing left: "THIS WAY TO NEUTRON STARS" - Example: "Big component of GW230529 (~3.6 times the mass of the Sun)" 2. "~10 times the mass of the Sun" - Labeled "basic" - Slightly larger black hole cat illustration - Caption: "LOTS OF BLACK HOLES" 3. "~35–45 times the mass of the Sun" - Labeled "hefty" - Bigger black hole cat illustration - Continues the idea of a populated range 4. ">60 times the mass of the Sun" - Labeled "chonky" - Large black hole cat illustration - Caption: "FORBIDDEN TERRITORY? (can these even be made from the collapse of star cores?!)" - Example: "Components of GW190521 (~85 + ~66 times the mass of the Sun)" 5. ">100 times the mass of the Sun" - Labeled "oh lawd" - Very large, curled-up black hole cat illustration - Arrow pointing right: "THIS WAY TO INTERMEDIATE MASS BLACK HOLES" - Example: "Components of GW231123 (~137 + ~103 times the mass of the Sun)" Below the categories is a stylized black curve representing the inferred population of black holes detected by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA. It rises sharply in the "basic" range and falls off toward the "hefty" and "chonky" ranges, with a note reading: "this curve is an artistic representation of the black hole population inferred by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA." This infographic draws from the “Chonky Cat” meme.
Heard the latest news from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration? We detected the collision of the most massive pair of black holes so far: #GW231123 weighing in at ~137 + ~103 times the mass of the Sun!
So to celebrate, here’s a handy chart ✨
Just how chonky are these black holes? 🤔
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Hahaha, our newly found heaviest black hole GW231123 would love this meme 😂
#lvk #ligo #GW231123 #physics #meme
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16/7 2025
#Astronomers #detect most #massive #black-hole #collision to date
edition.cnn.com/2025/07/16/s...
#Science #GW231123
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"Talk about epic. A collision of two black holes is so extreme that it’s challenging physics theories of how large black holes form and merge."
www.sciencenews.org/article/bigg... by @econover.bsky.social on the exciting news of our detection of #GW231123
🔭🧪⚛️
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Astrophysicists Detect Gravitational Waves from Most Massive Black Hole Merger to Date Using twin detectors of NSF’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), astrophysicists wi...
#Astronomy #Featured #Black #hole #Gravitational #waves #GW231123 […]
[Original post on sci.news]
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"Gravitational wave detector LIGO spots fast-spinning ‘forbidden’ black holes that challenge physics models"
www.nature.com/articles/d41... by
@astrojonny.bsky.social discusses the #GW231123 and the potential of gravitational-wave astronomy
🔭🧪⚛️☄️
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"Merger of two massive black holes is one for the record books"
@jenlucpiquant.bsky.social reports on our LIGO @egovirgo.bsky.social KAGRA discovery of #GW231123
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
🔭🧪⚛️
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"So it’s a record! Cool! But it’s also weird. Why?"
@philplait.bsky.social explains our latest gravitational-wave discovery #GW231123
badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/the-bigges...
🔭🧪⚛️
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"So it’s a record! Cool! But it’s also weird. Why?"
@philplait.bsky.social explains our latest gravitational-wave discovery #GW231123
badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/the-bigges...
🔭🧪⚛️
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Hot off the press: the LIGO Virgo KAGRAanalysis of #GW231123 is now on arXiv and free to read!
@ligo.org #science #openscience #opendata
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Find out all about #GW231123 in the @ligo.org - @egovirgo.bsky.social - KAGRA paper - free to read online on #arXiv
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Exciting news from LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA!!
#GW231123
@ligo.org
@egovirgo.bsky.social
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Our collaboration member Mark Hannam @markdhannam.bsky.social shares his insights on working on our latest discover, the particularly tricky gravitational-wave signal #GW231123
fictionalaether.substack.com/p/gw231123-a...
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💥 Międzynarodowa współpraca LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA ogłosiła odkrycie najbardziej masywnego połączenia dwóch czarnych dziur. 🕳️🕳️ Poznajcie GW231123! Więcej o odkryciu na naszym FB: www.facebook.com/AstronomiaUW...
@egovirgo.bsky.social @ligo.org
#GW231123 #GR24Amaldi16 #BlackHoles #GravitationalWaves
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"Ripples in space-time from collision recorded by gravitational wave detector forces a rethink of how the objects form"
www.theguardian.com/science/2025... by @iansample.bsky.social reports on our discovery of #GW231123
☄️🧪🔭⚛️
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arXiv preprint GW231123: a Binary Black Hole Merger with Total Mass 190-265 M⊙ On 2023 November 23 the two LIGO observatories both detected GW231123, a gravitational-wave signal consistent with the merger of two black holes with masses 137+22−17M⊙ and 103+20−52M⊙ (90\% credible intervals), at luminosity distance 0.7-4.1 Gpc and redshift of 0.39+0.27−0.24, and a network signal-to-noise ratio of ∼22.5. Both black holes exhibit high spins, 0.9+0.10−0.19 and 0.80+0.20−0.51 respectively. A massive black hole remnant is supported by an independent ringdown analysis. Some properties of GW231123 are subject to large systematic uncertainties, as indicated by differences in inferred parameters between signal models. The primary black hole lies within or above the theorized mass gap where black holes between 60-130 M⊙ should be rare due to pair instability mechanisms, while the secondary spans the gap. The observation of GW231123 therefore suggests the formation of black holes from channels beyond standard stellar collapse, and that intermediate-mass black holes of mass ∼200 M⊙ form through gravitational-wave driven mergers.
Figure 7 of the paper showing the inferred masses. The masses are measured to be high, but the exact values depend significantly depending on the waveform model used. These are the most significant systematic uncertainties we have seen so far. New detections are pushing the boundaries of our calculations.
Figure 8 of the paper showing the inferred spins. Results again vary between waveform models, but they consistently show high spin magnitudes with some support for misalignment relative to the orbit of the binaries.
Screenshot of from the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center showing spectrograms of the signal (which is short) as well as links to download the raw data.
The LIGO Virgo KAGRA study of #GW231123 was posted to the arXiv today, and is free to read
arxiv.org/abs/2507.08219
Data are available from the GW Open Science Center
gwosc.org/eventapi/htm...
#OpenScience #OpenData ☄️
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This is exciting. The most massive black hole merger seen to date: #GW231123 #gravitationalwaves ligo.org/ligo-virgo-k...
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Infographic titled "Meet GW231123: a gravitational-wave signal from the most massive binary black hole observed to date". It highlights the November 23, 2023 detection by LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA of two merging black holes—103 and 137 times the mass of the Sun—producing a final black hole over 225 solar masses. The event was observed by LIGO Hanford and Livingston for 0.1 seconds. A visual chart shows the masses in comparison to typical black hole ranges, noting the "upper mass gap." An inset suggests a "hierarchical origin story"—the merging black holes may have formed from previous mergers. The infographic emphasises the black holes' rapid spins (80–90% of the maximum theoretical spin rate) and shows their detection from a distance of 2–13 billion light-years. A world map marks the locations of LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA detectors. Credit: Simona J. Miller / Caltech
🕳️ Our colleagues at LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA announced detection of the most massive #blackhole merger ever seen!
Event GW231123, observed on Nov 23, 2023, came from black holes of ~103 & 137 solar masses - forming one over 225 times the Sun’s mass☀️
#GravitationalWaves #GW231123
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Dr Amanda Farah standing in front of a huge lecture screen announcing the detection of GW231123
Amanda Farah showing a slide of the inferred properties of GW231123's source. The masses are high, each black hole is probably over 100 solar masses. However, our different models for the signal give different results as this is a difficult system to study. The spins are inferred to be high, near the maximum possible values. High spin systems are where are signal models are most difficult to accurately calculate. This are also rare amongst observations.
Dr Sophie Bini going into details of the analysis of GW231123. She is here highlighting that the masses and spins of the source are exceptional.
Sophie Bini talking about how we test that the merger product is consistent with a black hole solution to Einstein's equations. Being so high mass makes this a perfect system for this type of test, as we get lots of signal from the merger remnant. The test was consistent with predictions.
The discovery of #GW231123 was announced today to scientists at the #GR24Amaldi16 meeting with talks by Amanda Farah and Sophie Bini. International scientists heard about how we analysed such an unusual signal and what it could mean for our understanding of how black holes form
☄️🔭
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Additional information on the most massive #BlackHole collision ever detected by #LIGO, called #GW231123
ligo.org/detections/g...
ligo.org/wp-content/u...
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We are excited to announce the discovery of #GW231123, a gravitational-wave signal from the merger of two high-mass black holes to form one about 190–265 times the mass of our Sun
ligo.org/ligo-virgo-k...
#O4IsHere 🔭🧪☄️
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Il 23 novembre 2023 gli interferometri Ligo di Hanford e Livingston hanno captato un’onda gravitazionale emessa da un evento di coalescenza senza precedenti. L’oggetto finale è un buco nero di dimensioni colossali: 225 masse solari. #GW231123 @ligo.org @egovirgo.bsky.social
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