In a curvature-coupled propagation framework for modified gravity, gravitational-wave lensing in wave optics shows persistent infrared interactions that prevent the amplification factor from approaching unity at zero frequency, requiring an interacting Green function and partial-wave treatment.
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GW231123: a Binary Black Hole Merger with Total Mass 190-265 $M_{\odot}$
Canonical reference. 89% of citing Pith papers cite this work as background.
abstract
On 2023 November 23 the two LIGO observatories both detected GW231123, a gravitational-wave signal consistent with the merger of two black holes with masses $137^{+23}_{-18}\, M_\odot$ and $101^{+22}_{-50}\, M_\odot$ (90\% credible intervals), at luminosity distance 0.7-4.1 Gpc and redshift of $0.40^{+0.27}_{-0.25}$, and a network signal-to-noise ratio of $\sim$20.7. Both black holes exhibit high spins, $0.9^{+0.10}_{-0.19}$ and $0.80^{+0.20}_{-0.52}$ respectively. A massive black hole remnant is supported by an independent ringdown analysis. Some properties of GW231123 are subject to large systematic uncertainties, as indicated by differences in inferred parameters between signal models. The primary black hole lies within or above the theorized mass gap where black holes between 60-130 $M_\odot$ should be rare due to pair instability mechanisms, while the secondary spans the gap. The observation of GW231123 therefore suggests the formation of black holes from channels beyond standard stellar collapse, and that intermediate-mass black holes of mass $\sim$200 $M_\odot$ form through gravitational-wave driven mergers.
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representative citing papers
The first search for scalar-induced gravitational waves via pulsar parameter drifts yields f_PBH < 10^{-10} (95% CL) for PBH masses 0.3 to 4e4 solar masses, strongly disfavoring a primordial black hole origin for LVK binary black holes.
First joint population inference on binary black hole eccentricity from GWTC-4 bounds the eccentric branching ratio below 5% at 90% confidence, with results consistent with quasi-circular models but highly model-dependent.
Direct waves in filtered Schwarzschild ringdown are the anti-causal filter-pole contribution sourced by near-horizon trajectory dynamics and do not vanish.
Calculates energy fluxes with quadratic-in-spin and quadrupole effects for small-mass-ratio spinning binaries in self-force theory, providing numerical data and sixth-order PN expansions.
All gravitational-wave binaries analyzed through O4a are consistent with zero line-of-sight acceleration, measured with a new time-domain Doppler method applicable to any waveform model.
Authors synthesize SVD-based reduced-order models from wave-optics simulations to provide an effective stochastic description of stellar microlensing distortions on lensed gravitational waves.
Bayesian analysis of GW230627 and GW250114 finds no deviation from GR at 4PN and 4.5PN orders, setting the first empirical baseline with 90% intervals of order O(1)-O(10).
A cross-correlation search of ~11,000 event pairs in GWTC-4 including sub-threshold candidates finds no lensed GW pairs above 3σ, setting an upper bound of ≤1.5/yr on the lensing rate.
Machine learning regressors trained on Rapster simulations forecast that globular clusters rarely host black holes above 100 solar masses while a few nuclear star clusters may exceed this threshold.
DeepOPiraKAN learns parameter-to-spectrum mappings via operator learning and achieves relative errors of O(10^{-6}) to O(10^{-4}) for Kerr black hole quasinormal modes up to n=7 when benchmarked against Leaver's method.
Polynomial models for the (2,2) post-merger waveform amplitudes of eccentric non-spinning binary black holes are constructed from numerical-relativity data as functions of symmetric mass ratio and two merger-time dynamical parameters.
No definitive lensing is detected in GW231123, though a potential microlensing feature with modulation amplitude up to 0.8 at 95% confidence is noted, limited by large waveform systematics in short signals.
No GWTC-3 event robustly prefers a non-BBH merger morphology once low-frequency cutoffs are raised; apparent low-compactness modes are noise artifacts, with GW231123 left as an unresolved special case.
Joint strong-lensing and population inference on resolved gravitational-wave events finds no lensed events and tightens constraints on the black-hole merger rate peak redshift and high-redshift tail.
Two LIGO transients are consistent with domain wall signals from a shared scalar field but binary black hole models remain favored, with a morphological degeneracy identified.
X-ray timing and spectral analysis of ASKAP J174508.9-505149 detects matching periodicity and features consistent with an accreting magnetic CV.
SEOBNRv6EHM reduces parameter biases for eccentric binaries versus prior models and shows mild support for eccentricity in five catalog events plus comparable unbound fits for three high-mass events.
Constrained polarization model for Kerr ringdown modes enables inclination inference from two-detector data for non-precessing mergers but introduces biases when applied to precessing systems.
Mixture model analysis of LIGO data identifies a ~10% high-spin subpopulation with a1 ≈ 0.9 matching AGN accretion predictions, disfavoring hierarchical mergers at a1 ≈ 0.7 for that group.
Eccentric EMRIs exhibit relativistic resonances in scalar fluxes that enhance interactions with scalar clouds and amplify waveform dephasing relative to circular orbits.
Single-event GW parameter estimates under reference priors are population-biased; hierarchical, population-informed re-analysis is needed and changes the identification of the most extreme black holes in the catalog.
A closed formula computes static post-Newtonian corrections at arbitrary odd orders in gravity, yielding the explicit seventh post-Newtonian potential that matches an independent diagrammatic method.
Unmodeled point-mass lensing produces a spurious nonzero graviton mass posterior in GW231123 that vanishes when lensing is included in the analysis.
citing papers explorer
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Wave-optics gravitational wave lensing in modified gravity
In a curvature-coupled propagation framework for modified gravity, gravitational-wave lensing in wave optics shows persistent infrared interactions that prevent the amplification factor from approaching unity at zero frequency, requiring an interacting Green function and partial-wave treatment.
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Constraints on the Primordial Black Hole Abundance using Pulsar Parameter Drifts
The first search for scalar-induced gravitational waves via pulsar parameter drifts yields f_PBH < 10^{-10} (95% CL) for PBH masses 0.3 to 4e4 solar masses, strongly disfavoring a primordial black hole origin for LVK binary black holes.
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Population Properties of Binary Black Holes with Eccentricity
First joint population inference on binary black hole eccentricity from GWTC-4 bounds the eccentric branching ratio below 5% at 90% confidence, with results consistent with quasi-circular models but highly model-dependent.
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Foundations of Direct Waves in Schwarzschild Ringdown
Direct waves in filtered Schwarzschild ringdown are the anti-causal filter-pole contribution sourced by near-horizon trajectory dynamics and do not vanish.
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Quadrupole and quadratic-in-spin effects in quasicircular, spinning, asymmetric binaries
Calculates energy fluxes with quadratic-in-spin and quadrupole effects for small-mass-ratio spinning binaries in self-force theory, providing numerical data and sixth-order PN expansions.
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Constraints on Line-of-Sight Acceleration from O1-O4
All gravitational-wave binaries analyzed through O4a are consistent with zero line-of-sight acceleration, measured with a new time-domain Doppler method applicable to any waveform model.
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Effective description of lensed gravitational waves diffracted by stellar fields
Authors synthesize SVD-based reduced-order models from wave-optics simulations to provide an effective stochastic description of stellar microlensing distortions on lensed gravitational waves.
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Tests of general relativity at the fourth post-Newtonian order with GW230627 and GW250114
Bayesian analysis of GW230627 and GW250114 finds no deviation from GR at 4PN and 4.5PN orders, setting the first empirical baseline with 90% intervals of order O(1)-O(10).
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Model-Independent Search Discards Faint Lensed-Pairs of Gravitational Wave Events in the Sub-Threshold Candidates of GWTC-4
A cross-correlation search of ~11,000 event pairs in GWTC-4 including sub-threshold candidates finds no lensed GW pairs above 3σ, setting an upper bound of ≤1.5/yr on the lensing rate.
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Predicting intermediate-mass black hole formation in star clusters with machine learning
Machine learning regressors trained on Rapster simulations forecast that globular clusters rarely host black holes above 100 solar masses while a few nuclear star clusters may exceed this threshold.
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Physics informed operator learning of parameter dependent spectra
DeepOPiraKAN learns parameter-to-spectrum mappings via operator learning and achieves relative errors of O(10^{-6}) to O(10^{-4}) for Kerr black hole quasinormal modes up to n=7 when benchmarked against Leaver's method.
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Highly eccentric non-spinning binary black hole mergers: quadrupolar post-merger waveforms
Polynomial models for the (2,2) post-merger waveform amplitudes of eccentric non-spinning binary black holes are constructed from numerical-relativity data as functions of symmetric mass ratio and two merger-time dynamical parameters.
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The First Model-Independent Upper Bound on Micro-lensing Signature of the Highest Mass Binary Black Hole Event GW231123
No definitive lensing is detected in GW231123, though a potential microlensing feature with modulation amplitude up to 0.8 at 95% confidence is noted, limited by large waveform systematics in short signals.
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Compactness Inference in Gravitational-Wave Mergers with PhenomDECO: Catalog Benchmarks and Robustness Diagnostics
No GWTC-3 event robustly prefers a non-BBH merger morphology once low-frequency cutoffs are raised; apparent low-compactness modes are noise artifacts, with GW231123 left as an unresolved special case.
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Joint population and strong-lensing inference for resolved gravitational-wave events probes the black-hole merger rate beyond the peak of star formation
Joint strong-lensing and population inference on resolved gravitational-wave events finds no lensed events and tightens constraints on the black-hole merger rate peak redshift and high-redshift tail.
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Short Gravitational-Wave Transients as Probes of Cosmic Domain Walls
Two LIGO transients are consistent with domain wall signals from a shared scalar field but binary black hole models remain favored, with a morphological degeneracy identified.
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The X-ray emission of the long-period transient and accreting cataclysmic variable ASKAP J174508.9-505149
X-ray timing and spectral analysis of ASKAP J174508.9-505149 detects matching periodicity and features consistent with an accreting magnetic CV.
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Eccentric and unbound compact binaries in the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA catalog: parameter estimation and waveform systematics with SEOBNRv6EHM
SEOBNRv6EHM reduces parameter biases for eccentric binaries versus prior models and shows mild support for eccentricity in five catalog events plus comparable unbound fits for three high-mass events.
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Polarization Analysis of Ringdown Signals
Constrained polarization model for Kerr ringdown modes enables inclination inference from two-detector data for non-precessing mergers but introduces biases when applied to precessing systems.
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High-Spin BBH Subpopulation from AGN Accretion
Mixture model analysis of LIGO data identifies a ~10% high-spin subpopulation with a1 ≈ 0.9 matching AGN accretion predictions, disfavoring hierarchical mergers at a1 ≈ 0.7 for that group.
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Resonances as signatures of scalar clouds in eccentric extreme-mass-ratio inspirals
Eccentric EMRIs exhibit relativistic resonances in scalar fluxes that enhance interactions with scalar clouds and amplify waveform dephasing relative to circular orbits.
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Gravitational-wave astronomy requires population-informed parameter estimation
Single-event GW parameter estimates under reference priors are population-biased; hierarchical, population-informed re-analysis is needed and changes the identification of the most extreme black holes in the catalog.
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All-order structure of static gravitational interactions and the seventh post-Newtonian potential
A closed formula computes static post-Newtonian corrections at arbitrary odd orders in gravity, yielding the explicit seventh post-Newtonian potential that matches an independent diagrammatic method.
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GW231123: False Massive Graviton Signatures from Unmodeled Point-Mass Lensing
Unmodeled point-mass lensing produces a spurious nonzero graviton mass posterior in GW231123 that vanishes when lensing is included in the analysis.
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Measurement prospects for the pair-instability mass cutoff with gravitational waves
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Signatures of a subpopulation of hierarchical mergers in the GWTC-4 gravitational-wave dataset
Using a joint effective-spin and precession-spin model on 155 gravitational-wave events, the authors infer that the hierarchical (second-generation) merger fraction rises sharply above ~46 M_sun and peaks again near 15.7 M_sun.
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Evidence of the pair instability gap from black hole masses
GWTC-4 data reveals a pair-instability gap at 44 M_⊙ in secondary black hole masses, interpreted as evidence for hierarchical mergers and used to constrain the S-factor for 12C(α,γ)16O.
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GW231123: A Possible Primordial Black Hole Origin
GW231123's masses and high spins are consistent with primordial black holes that accreted mass and angular momentum in the early universe within the standard PBH framework.
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Extended parameterized spin expansion formalism for ringdown analysis with GW250114
Simultaneously sampling the EFT scaling index p̃ and length scale ℓ̃ in ParSpec shows p̃ is prior-dominated and the ℓ̃ ~ 83 km bound is mostly prior geometry.
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Population-level correlations in Bayesian statistics: an illustrative model for gravitational-wave astronomy
An idealized Gaussian model demonstrates that single-event correlations inflate uncertainties in population correlations and that catalog-wide correlated biases can be misread as population correlations.
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Fast-spinning massive black holes from slowly rotating low-metallicity stars: Implications for GW231123
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Constraining Gravitational Wave Memory with Hierarchical Inference
Hierarchical Bayesian inference on GWTC-5.0 constrains the memory enhancement factor to 0.26 with large uncertainties consistent with the GR value of 1 and forecasts that 2000 detections are needed for a 1σ constraint away from zero.
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Is the Binary Black Hole Population Inference from Gravitational-Wave Data Robust?
Waveform modeling uncertainties can distort features in the binary black hole mass distribution inferred from gravitational-wave data more than statistical uncertainties.
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Assessing the imprint of eccentricity in GW signatures using two independent waveform models
Dual-model analysis of 162 GW sources disfavors eccentricity for most events but finds potential evidence in GW200129, GW231001, and GW231123.
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How do the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA's Heavy Black Holes Form? No evidence for core-collapse Intermediate-mass black holes in GWTC-4
No evidence for core-collapse formed low-spin IMBHs in GWTC-4, with 90% upper limit on merger rate of 0.077 Gpc^{-3} yr^{-1}, low-spin BH mass truncation at 65 solar masses consistent with pair-instability gap lower edge, and high-spin IMBHs from hierarchical mergers.
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Ringdown Analysis of GW250114 with Orthonormal Modes
Orthonormal QNM analysis of GW250114 raises the significance of the first overtone of the ℓ=m=2 mode from 82.5% to 99.9% and detects no significant deviation from Kerr predictions.
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Emergent structure in the binary black hole mass distribution and implications for population-based cosmology
B-spline agnostic reconstruction of binary black hole masses from GWTC-4.0 reveals multiple features and a logarithmic hierarchy that impacts Hubble constant measurements, with a low-mass subpopulation isolation method to mitigate systematics.
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GW231123: Overlapping Gravitational Wave Signals?
GW231123 data favors an overlapping two-signal model over a single merger with Bayes factors of 100-10000, mitigating waveform-dependent discrepancies and suggesting possible gravitational lensing.
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Gravitational-wave parameter estimation to the Moon and back: massive binaries and the case of GW231123
LGWA could observe more than one third of known binary black hole events, detect ~90 mergers per year, and measure chirp mass better than third-generation detectors for massive systems.
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Seeds to success: growing heavy black holes in dense star clusters
Simulations indicate stellar collisions dominate intermediate-mass black hole formation across cluster types, with potential to explain local globular cluster candidates and predict wandering IMBHs in Milky Way-like galaxies.
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Global time-frequency search for stellar-mass binary black holes in LISA
A time-frequency semi-coherent search pipeline detects stellar-mass BBH inspirals in LISA data down to coherent SNR of approximately 11-14 on the Yorsh data challenge for aligned-spin, low-eccentricity systems.
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Dark matter production from evaporation of regular primordial black holes
Regular primordial black holes can evaporate completely like singular ones and yield the observed dark matter density under modified cosmological constraints.
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Biased parameter inference of eccentric, spin-precessing binary black holes
Eccentric BBH signals recovered with quasi-circular precessing models show biases in chirp mass and χ_p; Bayes factors favor eccentric aligned-spin models when both eccentricity and precession are present.
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GW250114: testing Hawking's area law and the Kerr nature of black holes
GW250114 data confirm the remnant black hole ringdown frequencies lie within 30% of Kerr predictions and that the final horizon area is larger than the sum of the progenitors' areas to high credibility.
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Persistence of post-Newtonian amplitude structure in binary black hole mergers
Fits to numerical relativity data indicate that leading-order post-Newtonian dependence on mass ratio persists in several modes of binary black hole mergers through the merger, while low-degree polynomials capture deviations in higher modes.
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GW231123 Formation from Population III Stars: Isolated Binary Evolution
Isolated Population III binaries can form GW231123-like events if convective overshooting is inefficient, the carbon-alpha reaction rate is 2 sigma below standard, and initial orbits match those of later-generation binaries.
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McFACTS II: Mass Ratio--Effective Spin Relationship of Black Hole Mergers in the AGN Channel
Monte Carlo simulations of AGN-disk black hole mergers identify dense, moderately short-lived disks, a steep initial mass function, and mostly prograde orbits as the parameter combination that reproduces the observed (q, χ_eff) anti-correlation.
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Probing globular clusters parameters through gravitational wave lensing with stellar-mass black hole binaries
Simulations of wave-optics lensing of GW150914-like signals by globular clusters recover injected velocity dispersion values for favorable alignments when lens and source parameters are jointly estimated.
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PyCBC Live Search for Compact Binary Mergers in Advanced LIGO and Virgo's Fourth Observing Run
PyCBC Live for O4 adds time-dependent background modeling, early warning search, and improved autogating, delivering sensitivity gains of 1.7-2.3x for coincident searches in mock data challenges.
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Shape of U: Measuring the Curvature of the Universe with Gravitational Waves
Next-generation GW detector networks can constrain the spatial curvature parameter Ω_k to 1σ uncertainty of 0.029 using intermediate-mass binary black hole bright sirens.