Publications & Detection Papers

LIGO Laboratory staff author articles on a wide range of subjects, including: 

• Detection-specific papers
• Astrophysics
• Data analysis techniques
• The physics of the detectors and related precision measurement topics
• Instrument science tricks and techniques
• Engineering studies and results

Articles are often written with members of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) or in conjunction with the greater scientific community. In addition, we draft non- or less-technical Science Summaries of many of these and other papers. Many Science Summaries have also been translated into multiple languages.

Below, we list a selection of papers about the LIGO detectors and specific GW detections and their interpretation. LIGO Public Access links (i.e., those not requiring an institutional affiliation) are included where available. The LVK are searching for many other types of GW signals too and look forward to reporting them when discovered. The full list of papers published by LVK can be found at LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA Publications.

 

Table of Contents Discovery Papers: Notable Events Discovered in the O4 Observing Run - NEW! Notable Events Discovered in the O3 Observing Run Notable Events Discovered in the O2 Observing Run Notable Events Discovered in the O1 Observing Run Other Papers of Interest: The Advanced LIGO Detectors Guides to Open Data and Analysis Methods Papers Describing the Gravitational Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC) Papers Characterizing the Population of GW Sources Tests of General Relativity Using GW Events

 

Notable Events Discovered in O4  |  May 24, 2023 -
GW230529	Discovery Paper NEW! Published: April 4, 2024	Observation of Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of a 2.5 - 4.5 M☉ Compact Object and a Neutron Star arXiv: 2404.04248  |  LIGO Public Access: P2300352

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Notable Events Discovered in O3  |  Apr 1, 2019 - Mar 26, 2020
GW200105 and GW200115	Discovery Paper	Observation of gravitational waves from two neutron star-black hole coalescences Astrophys. J. Lett. 915, L5 (2021) arXiv: 2106.15163  |  LIGO Public Access: P2000357

GW190814	Discovery Paper	GW190814: Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of a 23 Solar Mass Black Hole with a 2.6 Solar Mass Compact Object Astrophys. J. Lett. 896, L44 (2020) arXiv: 2006.12611  |  LIGO Public Access: P190814

GW190521	Discovery Paper Companion Paper	GW190521: A Binary Black Hole Merger with a Total Mass of 150 Msun Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 101102 (2020) arXiv: 2009.01075  |  LIGO Public Access: P2000020
		Properties and astrophysical implications of the 150 Msun binary black hole merger GW190521 Astrophys. J. Lett. 900, L13 (2020) arXiv: 2009.01190  |  LIGO Public Access: P2000021

GW190425	Discovery Paper	GW190425: Observation of a compact binary coalescence with total mass ~3.4 Msun Astrophys. J. Lett. 892, L3 (2020) arXiv: 2001.01761  |  LIGO Public Access: P190425

GW190412	Discovery Paper	GW190412: Observation of a Binary-Black-Hole Coalescence with Asymmetric Masses Phys. Rev. D 102, 043015 (2020) arXiv: 2004.08342  |  LIGO Public Access: P190412

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Notable Events Discovered in O2  |  Nov 30, 2016 - Aug 25, 2017
GW170817	Discovery Paper Select Companion Papers	Observation of gravitational waves from a binary neutron star inspiral Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 161101 (2017) arXiv: 1710.05832  |  LIGO Public Access: P170817
		Multi-Messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger Astrophys. J. Lett. 848, L12 (2017) arXiv: 1710.05833  |  LIGO Public Access: P1700294
		Gravitational Waves and Gamma-Rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A Astrophys. J. Lett. 848, L13 (2017) arXiv: 1710.05834  |  LIGO Public Access: P1700308
		Properties of the binary neutron star merger GW170817 Phys. Rev. X 9, 011001 (2019) arXiv: 1805.11579  |  LIGO Public Access: P1800061
		Tests of General Relativity with GW170817 Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 011102 (2019) arXiv: 1811.00364  |  LIGO Public Access (pending): P1800059
		A gravitational-wave standard siren measurement of the Hubble constant Nature 551, 85 (2017) arXiv: 1710.05835  |  LIGO Public Access: P1700296

GW170814	Discovery Paper	GW170814: A Three-Detector Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Coalescence Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 141101 (2017) arXiv: 1709.09660  |  LIGO Public Access: P170814

GW170608	Discovery Paper	GW170608: Observation of a 19-solar-mass binary black hole coalescence Astrophys. J. Lett. 851, L35 (2017) arXiv: 1711.05578  |  LIGO Public Access: P170608

GW170104	Discovery Paper	GW170104: Observation of a 50-solar-mass binary black hole coalescence at redshift 0.2 Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 221101 (2017) arXiv: 1706.01812  |  LIGO Public Access: P170104

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Notable Events Discovered in O1  |  Sep 18, 2015 - Jan 12, 2016
GW151226	Discovery Paper	GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 241103 (2016) arXiv: 1606.04855  |  LIGO Public Access: P151226

GW150914 *First detection	Discovery Paper Select Companion Papers	Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 061102 (2016) arXiv: 1602.03837  |  LIGO Public Access: P150914
		Properties of the binary black hole merger GW150914 Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 241102 (2016) arXiv: 1602.03840  |  LIGO Public Access: P1500218
		Tests of general relativity with GW150914 Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 221101 (2016) arXiv: 1602.03841  |  LIGO Public Access: P1500213
		Astrophysical Implications of the Binary Black-Hole Merger GW150914 Astrophys. J. Lett. 818, L22 (2016) arXiv: 1602.03846  |  LIGO Public Access: P1500262
		Improved analysis of GW150914 using a fully spin-precessing waveform model Phys. Rev. X 6, 041014 (2016) arXiv: 1606.01210  |  LIGO Public Access: P1600048
		The basic physics of the binary black hole merger GW150914 Annalen der Physik 529, 1600209 (2017) arXiv: 1608.01940  |  LIGO Public Access: P1600161

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The Advanced LIGO Detectors	Advanced LIGO Classical and Quantum Gravity 32, 074001 (2015) arXiv: 1411.4547  |  LIGO Public Access: P1400177

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Guides to Open Data and Analysis Methods	Open data from the third observing run of LIGO, Virgo, KAGRA and GEO Astrophys. J. Supp. 267, 29 (2023) arXiv: 2302.03676  |  LIGO Public Access: P2200316
	A guide to LIGO-Virgo detector noise and extraction of transient gravitational-wave signals Classical and Quantum Gravity 37, 055002 (2020) arXiv: 1908.11170  |  LIGO Public Access: P1900004
	Open data from the first and second observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo SoftwareX 13, 100658 (2021) arXiv: 1912.11716  |  LIGO Public Access: P1900206

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Papers Describing the Gravitational Wave Transient Catalog (updated periodically)	GWTC-3: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the Second Part of the Third Observing Run Phys. Rev. X 13, 041039 (2023) arXiv: 2111.03606  |  LIGO Public Access (pending): P2000318
	GWTC-2.1: Deep Extended Catalog of Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the First Half of the Third Observing Run Phys. Rev. D 109, 022001 (2024) arXiv: 2108.01045  |  LIGO Public Access: P2100063
	GWTC-2: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the First Half of the Third Observing Run Phys. Rev. X 11, 021053 (2021) arXiv: 2010.14527  |  LIGO Public Access: P2000061
	GWTC-1: A Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog of Compact Binary Mergers Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the First and Second Observing Runs Phys. Rev. X 9, 031040 (2019) arXiv: 1811.12907  |  LIGO Public Access: P1800307

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Papers  Characterizing the Population of GW Sources	Population of merging compact binaries inferred using gravitational waves through GWTC-3 Phys. Rev. X 13, 011048 (2023) arXiv: 2111.03634  |  LIGO Public Access (pending): P2100239
	Population properties of compact objects from the second LIGO-Virgo Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog Astrophys. J. Lett. 913, L7 (2021) arXiv: 2010.14533  |  LIGO Public Access (pending): P2000077
	Binary Black Hole Population Properties Inferred from the First and Second Observing Runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo Astrophys. J. Lett. 882, L24 (2019) arXiv: 1811.12940  |  LIGO Public Access: P1800324

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Tests of General Relativity Using GW Events	Tests of General Relativity with GWTC-3 Phys. Rev. D in press arXiv: 2112.06861  |  LIGO Public Access: P2100275
	Tests of general relativity with binary black holes from the second LIGO-Virgo gravitational-wave transient catalog Phys. Rev. D 103, 122002 (2021) arXiv: 2010.14529  |  LIGO Public Access (pending): P2000091
	Tests of General Relativity with GW170817 Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 011102 (2019) arXiv: 1811.00364  |  LIGO Public Access (pending): P1800059
	Tests of general relativity with the binary black hole signals from the LIGO-Virgo catalog GWTC-1 Phys. Rev. D 100, 104036 (2019) arXiv: 1903.04467  |  LIGO Public Access: P1800316
	Tests of general relativity with GW150914 Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 221101 (2016) arXiv: 1602.03841  |  LIGO Public Access: P1500213

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