GW241011 and GW241110: Exploring Binary Formation and Fundamental Physics with Asymmetric, High-spin Black Hole Coalescences
Adrian Abac, I. Abouelfettouh, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, Christian Adamcewicz, S. Adhicary, Dadhi Adhikari, N. Adhikari, R. X. Adhikari, V.K Adkins, Samsuzzaman Afroz, A. Agapito, D. Agarwal, M. Agathos, N. Aggarwal, S. Aggarwal, Odylio D. Aguiar, I. -L. Ahrend, L. Aiello, A. Ain, P. Ajith, T. Akutsu, Simone Albanesi, Wadah Ali, S. Al-Kershi, C. Alléné, A. Allocca, S. Al-Shammari, P. A. Altin, S. Álvarez-López, W. Amar, O. Amarasinghe, A. Amato, F. Amicucci, Claude Amra, A. Ananyeva, S. B. Anderson, W. G. Anderson, M. Andia, Makoto Ando, M. Andrés‐Carcasona, T. Andrić, J. D. Anglin, Stefano Ansoldi, Javier M. Antelis, S. Antier, Fabio Antonini, M. Aoumi, E. Z. Appavuravther, S. Appert, S. K. Apple, K. Arai, Carlos Araújo-Álvarez, A. Araya, M. C. Araya, Manuel Arca Sedda, J. S. Areeda, N. Aritomi, F. Armato, Sharon Armstrong, N. Arnaud, M. Arogeti, Scott Aronson, K. G. Arun, G. Ashton, Y. Aso, L. Asprea, M. Assiduo, S. Assis de Souza Melo, S. M. Aston, P. Astone, P. Aswathi, F. Attadio, F. Aubin, K. AultONeal, Guerino Avallone, E. A. Avila, S. Babak, C. Badger, S. Bae, S. Bagnasco, Luca Baiotti, R. Bajpai, T. Baka, Andrew Baker, Keith Baker, Tessa Baker, G. Baldi, N. Baldicchi, M. Ball, G. Ballardin, S. W. Ballmer, S. Banagiri, B. Banerjee, D. Bankar, T. M. Baptiste, Pratyusava Baral, M. Baratti, J. C. Barayoga, B. C. Barish
Abstract
Abstract We report the observation of gravitational waves from two binary black hole coalescences during the fourth observing run of the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA detector network, GW241011 and GW241110. The sources of these two signals are characterized by rapid and precisely measured primary spins, nonnegligible spin–orbit misalignment, and unequal mass ratios between their constituent black holes. These properties are characteristic of binaries in which the more massive object was itself formed from a previous binary black hole merger and suggest that the sources of GW241011 and GW241110 may have formed in dense stellar environments in which repeated mergers can take place. As the third-loudest gravitational-wave event published to date, with a median network signal-to-noise ratio of 36.0, GW241011 furthermore yields stringent constraints on the Kerr nature of black holes, the multipolar structure of gravitational-wave generation, and the existence of ultralight bosons within the mass range 10 −13 –10 −12 eV.