LIGOWhat a difference a decade makes! Announcing the clearest #GravitationalWave detection ever #GW250114
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#GW250114's source is much like that for our first detection GW150914. Progress with our detectors means that the signal is much louder. Therefore, we can make much better measurements
Loud signals are perfect for testing Einstein's theory of general relativity.
The previous loudest signal was #GW230814 with a signal-to-noise ratio of 42. #GW250114 has a signal-to-noise ratio of 80. This enables extremely precise tests!
LIGO (@[email protected])
Attached: 1 image Our detailed study of #GW230814 is out today https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.07348 We are able to precisely test general relativity with this loud signal. Most tests show agreement with Einstein's theory, but some… The deviations can be explained by detector noise. This is why having multiple detectors is important! #Astrodon #GWTC4 #O4IsHere
When a black hole is formed in a merger it emits a set of #GravitationalWave frequencies, ringing like a bell
Measuring these tests the nature of black holes. Each part of the signal (the different overtones) is set by the black hole's mass and spin. #GW250114 lets us measure multiple overtones, and check that they produce consistent results. They agree with theory, confirming that we have a black hole described by the Kerr metric!
🎞️: Pfeiffer/Buonanno/Mitman/SXS
Our theories about black holes say that the area of the event horizon of the final black hole should be larger than the areas of the two initial black holes
Fitting data before and after merger, we find #GW250114 is consistent with predictions! This is evidence that our understanding of black holes, building upon work by Hawking and others, does describe real astrophysical objects
https://ligo.org/science-summaries/GW250114_discovery/
Catch up with everything you need to know about our latest #GravitationalWave discovery #GW250114 with our infographics
Credit: Sanika Khadkikar/Penn State & Lucy Reading-Ikkanda/Simons Foundation
Tests of general relativity and the nature of black hole with #GW250114 is out now
GW250114 is so loud, it sometimes provides tighter constraints than all of the signals in #GWTC4 combined
Learn about all the details in our science summary https://ligo.org/science-summaries/GW250114_TGR/
"Strongest black hole collision yet confirms theories of Einstein, Hawking"
Adrian Cho of Science writes about our discovery of #GW250114
#O4IsHere #EinsteinWasRight #HawkingWasRight #KerrWasRight #Astrodon
"LIGO’s Sharpest Detection Yet Confirms Famous Stephen Hawking Theory. Ten years after LIGO’s historical detection of gravitational waves, the project is cracking black hole mysteries at an astounding pace"
Gayoung Lee writes in Gizmodo about #GW250114
https://gizmodo.com/ligos-sharpest-detection-yet-confirms-famous-stephen-hawking-theory-2000656839
#O4IsHere #EinsteinWasRight #HawkingWasRight #KerrWasRight #Astrodon
"Landmark Black Hole Test Marks Decade of Gravitational-Wave Discoveries"
Chiara Mingarelli writes for APS Physics Magazine about #GW250114 https://physics.aps.org/articles/v18/160
"The clearest black hole merger signal yet, recorded by LIGO in January 2025, offers new insights into these mysterious objects."
@JenLucPiquant writes in @arstechnica about the discovery of #GW250114
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/09/new-black-hole-merger-bolsters-hawking-area-theorem/
Data for #GW250114, like all our detections, are available from our Open Science Center
https://doi.org/10.7935/1g4j-2028
If you would like to know more about our open data, our paper explains: https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.18079
