GW231123: Binary Black Hole Merger or Cosmic String?

2025/07/28 by Cuceu, Iuliu, Bizouard, Marie Anne, Christensen, Nelson +1 · 7 citations
#Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2507.20778

Abstract

The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration recently reported an exceptional gravitational-wave event, GW231123. This gravitational-wave signal was assumed to be generated from the merger of a binary black hole system, with source frame masses of 137⁺²²_-17~\textupM_\odot and 103⁺²⁰_-52~ \textupM_\odot (90% credible intervals). As seen by the two LIGO detectors, the signal has only ∼ 5 cycles, between 30 and 80 Hz, over ∼ 10 ms. It is of critical importance to confirm the origin of this signal. Here we present the results of a Bayesian model comparison to test whether the gravitational-wave signal was actually generated by a binary black hole merger, or emitted from cusps or kinks on a cosmic string. We find significant evidence for a binary black hole merger origin of the signal.

Citations

• GW231123: A Binary Black Hole Merger with Total Mass 190–265 <i>M</i> _⊙
• Revisiting the cosmic string origin of GW190521
• GW190521: A Binary Black Hole Merger with a Total Mass of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:mn>150</mml:mn><mml:mtext> </mml:mtext><mml:mtext> </mml:mtext><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>M</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mo stretchy="false">⊙</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:mrow></mml:math>
• Overview of KAGRA: Detector design and construction history
• Overview of KAGRA: Detector design and construction history
• dynesty: a dynamic nested sampling package for estimating Bayesian posteriors and evidences
• Advanced Virgo: a second-generation interferometric gravitational wave detector

Cited by

• Measuring Eccentricity and Addressing Waveform Systematics in GW231123
• The First Model-Independent Upper Bound on Micro-lensing Signature of the Highest Mass Binary Black Hole Event GW231123
• GW231123: Overlapping Gravitational Wave Signals?
• The Hierarchical Merger Scenario for GW231123
• Is GW190521 a gravitational wave echo of wormhole remnant from another universe?
• Can "premature collapse" form black holes in the upper and lower mass gaps?
• Superradiance Constraints from GW231123

Related

• GW241011 and GW241110: Exploring Binary Formation and Fundamental Physics with Asymmetric, High-Spin Black Hole Coalescence
• Revisiting the cosmic string origin of GW190521
• Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
• GW231123: A Binary Black Hole Merger with Total Mass 190–265 <i>M</i> _⊙
• GW190814: Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of a 23 Solar Mass Black Hole with a 2.6 Solar Mass Compact Object