No abstract

GW190413_052954 33.4 +12.4 −7.4 23.4 +6.7 −6.3 7.2 × 10 −2 GW190413_134308 45.4 +13.6 −9.6 30.9 +10.2 −9.6 4.4 × 10 −2 GW190421_213856 40.6 +10.4 −6.631.4 +7.5 −8.2 7.7 × 10 −4 GW190424_180648 39.5 +10.9 −6.9 31.0 +7.428.5 +7.5 −7.9 1.0 × 10 −5 GW190512_180714 23.0 +5.4 −5.7 12.5 +3.5 −2.5

Gravitational waves enable tests of general relativity in the highly dynamical and strong-field regime. Using events detected by LIGO-Virgo up to 1 October 2019, we evaluate the consistency of the data with predictions from the theory. We first establish that residuals from the best-fit waveform are consistent with detector noise, and that the low-and high-frequency parts of the signals are in agreement. We then consider parametrized modifications to the waveform by varying post-Newtonian and phenomenological coefficients, improving past constraints by factors of ∼2; we also find consistency with Kerr black holes when we specifically target signatures of the spin-induced quadrupole moment. Looking for gravitational-wave dispersion, we tighten constraints on Lorentz-violating coefficients by a factor of ∼2.6 and bound the mass of the graviton to m g ≤ 1.76 × 10 −23 eV=c 2 with 90% credibility. We also analyze the properties of the merger remnants by measuring ringdown frequencies and damping times, constraining fractional deviations away from the Kerr frequency to δf 220 ¼ 0.03 þ0.38 −0.35 for the fundamental quadrupolar mode, and δf 221 ¼ 0.04 þ0.27 −0.32 for the first overtone; additionally, we find no evidence for postmerger echoes. Finally, we determine that our data are consistent with tensorial polarizations through a template-independent method. When possible, we assess the validity of general relativity based on collections of events analyzed jointly. We find no evidence for new physics beyond general relativity, for black hole mimickers, or for any unaccounted systematics.

Accurate models of gravitational waves from merging black holes are necessary for detectors to observe as many events as possible while extracting the maximum science. Near the time of merger, the gravitational waves from merging black holes can be computed only using numerical relativity. In this paper, we present a major update of the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) Collaboration catalog of numerical simulations for merging black holes. The catalog contains 2018 distinct configurations (a factor of 11 increase compared to the 2013 SXS catalog), including 1426 spin-precessing configurations, with mass ratios between 1 and 10, and spin magnitudes up to 0.998. The median length of a waveform in the catalog is 39 cycles of the dominant = m = 2 gravitational-wave mode, with the shortest waveform containing 7.0 cycles and the longest 351.3 cycles. We discuss improvements such as correcting for moving centers of mass and extended coverage of the parameter space. We also present a thorough analysis of numerical errors, finding typical truncation errors corresponding to a waveform mismatch of ∼ 10 −4 . The simulations provide remnant masses and spins with uncertainties of 0.03% and 0.1% (90 th percentile), about an order of magnitude better than analytical models for remnant properties. The full catalog is publicly available at https://www.black-holes.org/waveforms . black holes and of the surrounding spacetime [31,32]. Simulations have also been used for visualizations of curved spacetime [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40], investigations of spin quantities [41], and the relaxation of spacetime to the Kerr solution following merger [42][43][44]. The motion of the black hole horizons and horizon curvature quantities have been used to explore eccentric dynamics [45][46][47][48], spin precession [49][50][51][52], and the first law of binary black hole mechanics [53][54][55][56][57]. These in turn have been compared to analytic post-Newtonian and self-force approximations (see also [58][59][60]), mapping out the bounds of validity of these approximations.A key application of BBH simulations is the accurate modeling of gravitational waves emitted by these systems during their late inspiral, merger, and final ringdown. Waveforms extracted from BBH simulations are essential for analyzing observed gravitational-wave signals from black hole binaries. Indeed, all BBH observations by LIGO and Virgo were analyzed using waveform families that rely on numerical relativity for their construction, most notably effective-one-body waveform models [61-65] and phenomenological waveform models [66][67][68]. Numerical simulations are also central in validating such waveform models [69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76], and were used to validate GW searches [77][78][79]. Waveforms from numerical relativity are also used directly in parameter estimation [80,81], to construct template banks [82], and to construct waveform families without intermediate analytical models, using methods such as reduced order modeling [83][84][85][86]. Today's simula...

The primary components of two new candidate events (GW190403 051519 and GW190426 190642) fall in the mass gap predicted by pair-instability supernova theory. We also expand the population of binaries with significantly asymmetric mass ratios reported in GWTC-2 by an additional two events (q < 0.61 and q < 0.62 at 90% credibility for GW190403 051519 and GW190917 114630 respectively), and find that 2 of the 8 new events have effective inspiral spins χ eff > 0 (at 90% credibility), while no binary is consistent with χ eff < 0 at the same significance.