GW150914 · Detection and model-based inference
Research context
study · established · As of 2026-10-10
peer reviewed · 2016-02-11
- Study design
- Independent interferometer time series, coherent event searches, noise-background estimation and relativistic waveform inference.
- Reported result
- First direct gravitational-wave detection, consistent with a binary black-hole merger observed 2015-09-14.
- Limitations
- Finite noise/calibration and waveform/cosmology-dependent source inference; not a test of every gravitational regime.
LIGO's 2016 report of the 14 September 2015 event combined a coherent transient in two detectors with noise-background tests and waveform comparison.
Key knowledge
LIGO's 2016 report of the 14 September 2015 event combined a coherent transient in two detectors with noise-background tests and waveform comparison. It established gravitational-wave detection consistent with a binary black-hole merger. Source masses, distance and emitted energy were inferred with waveform, calibration and cosmological assumptions, rather than directly read from a strain trace.
Conditions and scope
- The cited discovery paper and event date are historical; this record is not a current detector-catalogue count.
- False-alarm evidence and Bayesian/source-parameter uncertainty answer different questions. Later parameter estimates may differ with analysis/data improvements.
Sources · 2
References
Sources retain their recorded scope. A source link alone does not establish verification of every statement.
Evidence and review
Inspected abstract, detector/calibration, search significance and waveform/source-parameter sections; source check dated 2026-10-10. Scope is limited to the cited statements, equations and assumptions, not the whole publication. Inspected §§5.2–5.3: transverse-traceless response, retarded waves and quadrupole approximation; c restored explicitly from source natural units; source check dated 2026-10-10. Scope is limited to the cited statements, equations and assumptions, not the whole publication.
2026-10-10 · Author source inspection of the displayed claim, model assumptions and equations; independent exact-content and branch-inventory review is a separate gate. Contemporary status is a dated snapshot, not a promise of ongoing monitoring.
Entry details
Permanent link to this entry ↗- Record identity
- research-physics-gw150914-study
- Revision
- research.1
- Structured reference record
- Postgraduate & research reference