Overview
- The collaboration’s Physical Review Letters paper, published Jan. 29, details how GW250114’s ringdown matches general relativity’s predictions.
- Recorded on Jan. 14, 2025, the signal reached a signal-to-noise ratio of 76, making it the clearest binary black hole detection to date.
- Researchers extracted two distinct tones from the remnant black hole and constrained a third, allowing independent checks of mass and spin.
- Tests spanning the inspiral, merger, and ringdown phases yielded constraints that in some cases surpass those from dozens of prior events.
- Scientists attribute the clarity to a decade of detector improvements compared with GW150914 and say future high-quality signals could reveal beyond‑GR effects.