Spinning into the merging binary black hole family tree
astrobites.org/2025/11/21/g... by
@neevshah101.bsky.social
@astrobites.bsky.social report on the potential implications of our discovery of #GW241011 and #GW241110
🔭☄️🧪⚛️
Not Their First Rodeo: Gravitational Wave Detectors Spot Merging Black Holes That Have Merged Before
aasnova.org/2025/10/28/n... by Kerry Hensley
@aasnova.org report on our discovery of #GW241011 and #GW241110
🔭☄️🧪⚛️
![Screenshot of the arXiv page
GW241011 and GW241110: Exploring Binary Formation and Fundamental Physics with Asymmetric, High-Spin Black Hole Coalescence
We report the observation of gravitational waves from two binary black hole coalescences during the fourth observing run of the LIGO--Virgo--KAGRA detector network, GW241011 and GW241110. The sources of these two signals are characterized by rapid and precisely measured primary spins, non-negligible spin--orbit misalignment, and unequal mass ratios between their constituent black holes. These properties are characteristic of binaries in which the more massive object was itself formed from a previous binary black hole merger, and suggest that the sources of GW241011 and GW241110 may have formed in dense stellar environments in which repeated mergers can take place. As the third loudest gravitational-wave event published to date, with a median network signal-to-noise ratio of 36.0, GW241011 furthermore yields stringent constraints on the Kerr nature of black holes, the multipolar structure of gravitational-wave generation, and the existence of ultralight bosons within the mass range 10−13--10−12 eV.
arXiv:2510.26931 [astro-ph.HE]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nfcijd34gojmvk5yuju3tjv3/bafkreialxgkbwc3bznok3tmk62zg4uwvmtf27ynuulyoaojtno6dqmqqpa)
Screenshot of the arXiv page GW241011 and GW241110: Exploring Binary Formation and Fundamental Physics with Asymmetric, High-Spin Black Hole Coalescence We report the observation of gravitational waves from two binary black hole coalescences during the fourth observing run of the LIGO--Virgo--KAGRA detector network, GW241011 and GW241110. The sources of these two signals are characterized by rapid and precisely measured primary spins, non-negligible spin--orbit misalignment, and unequal mass ratios between their constituent black holes. These properties are characteristic of binaries in which the more massive object was itself formed from a previous binary black hole merger, and suggest that the sources of GW241011 and GW241110 may have formed in dense stellar environments in which repeated mergers can take place. As the third loudest gravitational-wave event published to date, with a median network signal-to-noise ratio of 36.0, GW241011 furthermore yields stringent constraints on the Kerr nature of black holes, the multipolar structure of gravitational-wave generation, and the existence of ultralight bosons within the mass range 10−13--10−12 eV. arXiv:2510.26931 [astro-ph.HE]
Our #GW241011 and #GW241110 discovery paper is now on the arXiv
arxiv.org/abs/2510.26931
If you would like to catch up on the highlights, checkout out our Science Summary
ligo.org/science-summ...
🔭☄️⚛️🧪
Fascinating detections from LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA!
#GW241011 & #GW241110 showcase unequal-mass, rapidly spinning black hole mergers—potentially hierarchical, with the massive primaries possibly "second-generation" relics from prior fusions in dense clusters.
#O4IsHere 🔭🧪⚛️ #science
1/2
The gravitational wave signals: the amplitude of the data over time in a combination of the LIGO Hanford, LIGO Livingston and Virgo detectors for GW241011 (left; Hanford and Virgo) and GW241110 (right; Hanford and Livingston). The merger time of the events is at time = 0.
Data for #GW241011 and #GW241110 are available to analyze from the Gravitaitonal Wave Open Science Center
doi.org/10.7935/3drz...
doi.org/10.7935/46xh...
You can find lots of tutorials there too!
gwosc.org/tutorials/
#OpenScience #OpenData 🧪🔭☄️⚛️
Plots showing how the new detection compare to our previous observations. The top panel shows all the events from the LVK’s most recently published catalog, GWTC-4.0, and our two new events GW241011 and GW241110 ordered by the primary spin projected in the direction of the spin of the orbital plane — in other words, how aligned the primary black hole’s spin direction is with the binary system’s orbit direction. Values greater than zero means the black hole is aligned with the spin of the orbit, whereas less than zero means the system is anti-aligned. The bottom panel shows the distribution of primary mass (the mass of the larger black hole) in solar masses and the mass ratio of the black hole pair for all events from GWTC-4.0 including our new events.
Our new paper on our LIGO @egovirgo.bsky.social KAGRA discovery of #GW241011 and #GW241110 is now published
doi.org/10.3847/2041...
These observations can tell us about the astrophysics of binary formation and test fundamental physics
#O4IsHere #GW10Years
Infographic about GW241011 and GW241110 GW241011's source contained black holes about 13 and 8 times the mass of our Sun. The spin of the bigger black hole is high and bear aligned with the orbit. GW241110's source contained black holes about 17 and 8 times the mass of our Sun. The spin of the larger black hole is high and near anti-aligned with the orbit. Credit: Shanika Galaudage/Northwestern University/Adler Planetarium
We are pleased to announce our discovery of #GW241011 and #GW241110
Both come from binary black holes where one black hole is much larger than the other. The larger black holes have large spin. Could these black holes have formed in a previous merger?
ligo.org/science-summ...
#O4IsHere 🔭🧪⚛️☄️
