GW250114: Testing Hawking's Area Law and the Kerr Nature of Black Holes
Abstract
The gravitational-wave signal GW250114 was observed by the two LIGO detectors with a network matched-filter signal-to-noise ratio of 80. The signal was emitted by the coalescence of two black holes with near-equal masses m_{1}=33.6_{-0.8}^{+1.2}M_{⊙} and m_{2}=32.2_{-1.3}^{+0.8}M_{⊙}, and small spins χ_{1,2}≤0.26 (90% credibility) and negligible eccentricity e≤0.03. Postmerger data excluding the peak region are consistent with the dominant quadrupolar (ℓ=|m|=2) mode of a Kerr black hole and its first overtone. We constrain the modes' frequencies to ±30% of the Kerr spectrum, providing a test of the remnant's Kerr nature. We also examine Hawking's area law, also known as the second law of black hole mechanics, which states that the total area of the black hole event horizons cannot decrease with time. A range of analyses that exclude up to five of the strongest merger cycles confirm that the remnant area is larger than the sum of the initial areas to high credibility.
Read the paper
Related studies
- A Survey on Knowledge Graphs: Representation, Acquisition, and Applications
- Toxicity of nanomaterials
- The Human Gene Mutation Database: towards a comprehensive repository of inherited mutation data for medical research, genetic diagnosis and next-generation sequencing studies
- Halogen bonding (X‐bonding): A biological perspective
- Biofilm formation at the air–liquid interface by the Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25 wrinkly spreader requires an acetylated form of cellulose
- Opioid Activation of Toll-Like Receptor 4 Contributes to Drug Reinforcement
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.