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LVK Collaboration Confirms Record 225-Solar-Mass Black Hole Merger

This finding spotlights gaps in black hole formation theories as researchers prepare to release calibrated data for community analysis.

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The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) in Livingston, Louisiana, is one of two identical instruments that astronomers have used to make the observation.
Conceptual illustration of black holes merging in space.
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Overview

  • GW231123 was detected on November 23, 2023, during LVK’s fourth observing run, marking the most massive black hole merger ever observed via gravitational waves.
  • The merger combined black holes of roughly 100 and 140 solar masses to form a 225-solar-mass remnant that standard stellar evolution models cannot account for.
  • Analysis shows the progenitor black holes were spinning near the relativistic limit, which complicates signal interpretation and theoretical modeling.
  • Scientists are investigating hierarchical merger scenarios in which each progenitor may have formed from earlier black hole collisions to explain its extreme mass.
  • The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration will release calibrated GW231123 data through the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center to advance global research.