New populations of black holes revealed by gravitational waves

Numerical simulation of two black holes that inspiral and merge, emitting gravitational waves. The black holes have large and nearly equal masses, with one only 3% more massive than the other. The simulated gravitational wave signal is consistent with the observation made by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors on May 21st, 2019 (GW190521). N. Fischer, H. Pfeiffer, A. Buonanno (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics), Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) Collaboration - The gravitational wave 1 detectors LIGO and Virgo have just chalked up their biggest catch yet, a black hole 142 times the mass of the Sun, resulting from the merger of two black holes of 85 and 66 solar masses.  The remnant black hole is the most massive ever observed with gravitational waves, and it could give us some clues about the formation of the supermassive black holes that sit at the centres of some galaxies. The mass of one of the merging black holes, 85 solar masses, provides information that could improve our understanding of the final stages in the evolution of massive stars. The discovery, to which several CNRS teams contributed as part of the Virgo collaboration, is published on 2 September 2020 in the journals Physical Review Letters and Astrophysical Journal Letters .