Honors College Thesis
 

GW190521: a binary black hole merger inside an active galactic nucleus?

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/honors_college_theses/8g84mv73d

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  • GW190521, the most massive binary black hole merger confidently detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration, is the first gravitational-wave observation of an intermediate-mass black hole. The signal was followed approximately 34 days later by flare ZTF19abanrhr, detected in AGN J124942.3+344929 by the Zwicky Transient Facility at the 78% spatial contour for GW190521’s sky localization. Using the GWTC-2.1 data release, we find that the association between GW190521 and flare ZTF19abanrhr as its electromagnetic counterpart is preferred over a random coincidence of the two transients with a natural log Bayes’ factor of 8.6, corresponding to an odds ratio of ∼ 5400 : 1 for equal prior odds and ∼ 400 : 1 assuming an astrophysical prior odds of 1/13. Given the association, the multi-messenger signal allows for an estimation of the Hubble constant, finding H = ~102 km s^−1 Mpc^−1 when solely analyzing GW190521 and ~79.2 km s^−1 Mpc^−1 assuming prior information from the binary neutron star merger GW170817, both consistent with the existing literature. This analysis provides the first evidence in support of a black hole merger with an electromagnetic counterpart.
  • KEYWORDS: Key Words: black holes, gravitational waves, active galactic nuclei, multimessenger astronomy
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