SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · 2605.27225

GWTC-5.0: Observations from the Second Part of the Fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Observing Run and Updates to the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog

Abstract

Version 5.0 of the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC-5.0) adds new candidates detected by the LIGO Virgo KAGRA network of observatories through the second part of the fourth observing run (O4b: 2024 April 10 15:00:00 to 2025 January 28 17:00:00 UTC) and four days of the preceding engineering run (2024 April 6 to 2024 April 10). We find 161 compact binary coalescence candidates that are identified by at least one of our search algorithms with a probability of astrophysical origin $p_\mathrm{astro} \geq 0.5$ and that are not vetoed during event validation. We also provide detailed source property measurements for 104 candidates that have a false-alarm rate < 1yr$^{-1}$. Based on the inferred component masses, all these candidates are consistent with signals from binary black holes. Median inferred component masses in the new candidates range from 5.14$M_\odot$ (GW241109_115924) to 70$M_\odot$ (GW241116_151753). Improvements in detector sensitivity allow us to observe compact binary coalescences with increasing clarity: 5 binary-black-hole signals have network signal-to-noise ratio exceeding 30, with a maximum to date of 76.9 for GW250114_082203. Such loud signals enable more precise studies of properties of their astrophysical sources and tests of general relativity. We also present updated results up to the first part of the fourth observing run, identifying 229 candidates. This brings the total number of transients in the cumulative GWTC having $p_\mathrm{astro} \geq 0.5$ to 390, further expanding the size of the catalog and our view of the gravitational-wave universe.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration, the KAGRA Collaboration, A. G. Abac, A. Abe, I. Abouelfettouh, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, A. Adam, S. Adhicary, D. Adhikari, R. X. Adhikari, V. K. Adkins, S. Afroz, A. Agapito, D. Agarwal, M. Agathos, N. Aggarwal, S. Aggarwal, O. D. Aguiar, I. -L. Ahrend, L. Aiello, A. Ain, P. Ajith, T. Akutsu, L. Albers, W. Ali, S. Al-Kershi, C. Allene, A. Allocca, S. Al-Shammari, J. A. Alvarez, S. Alvarez-Lopez, W. Amar, O. Amarasinghe, A. Amato, F. Amicucci, C. Amra, A. B. Anand, C. Anand, A. Ananyeva, S. B. Anderson, W. G. Anderson, M. Andia, M. Ando, F. Andrade-Oliveira, M. Andrés-Carcasona, J. L. Andrey, T. Andrić, J. Anglin, J. Anna, J. M. Antelis, S. Antier, T. Aoki, M. Aoumi, E. Z. Appavuravther, E. A. Appelt, S. Appert, S. K. Apple, K. Arai, A. Araya, M. C. Araya, M. Arca Sedda, F. Arciprete, J. S. Areeda, N. Aritomi, F. Armato, S. Armstrong, N. Arnaud, M. Arogeti, S. M. Aronson, G. Ashton, Y. Aso, L. Asprea, M. Assiduo, S. Assis de Souza Melo, S. M. Aston, P. Astone, P. S. Aswathi, F. Attadio, F. Aubin, K. AultONeal, G. Avallone, N. Avdeev, E. A. Avila, S. Babak, C. Badger, S. Bae, S. Bagnasco, S. Baimukhametova, L. Baiotti, T. Baka, K. A. Baker, T. Baker, G. Balbi, G. Baldi, N. Baldicchi, M. Ball, G. Ballardin, M. Ballelli. 2026-05-26. GWTC-5.0: Observations from the Second Part of the Fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Observing Run and Updates to the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.27225

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Electrovacuum Black Hole Uniqueness

We prove the black hole uniqueness conjecture in the axially symmetric, stationary, electrovacuum setting, subject to the refined asymptotic analysis of the associated singular harmonic maps, which includes an analyticity hypothesis at the axes. More precisely, it is shown that any asymptotically flat solution of the Einstein--Maxwell equations in this class, with more than one black hole horizon component is either: Majumdar--Papapetrou, up to a duality rotation, in which case all logarithmic angle defects vanish, or every finite axis rod logarithmic angle defect is strictly negative and hence every interaction force is strictly attractive. The proof extends the singular harmonic map method used for vacuum Kerr uniqueness in [18].

gr-qc

Constraining Modified Mass-to-Horizon Cosmology Through Primordial Inflationary Observables

We investigate slow-roll inflation in a modified cosmological framework inspired by a generalized mass-to-horizon relation (MHR), $M=\gamma {c^2 L^n}/{G}$, where $n$ is a real parameter and $\gamma$ a dimensional constant. Using Padmanabhan's emergence paradigm, we derive the modified Friedmann equations for a flat FRW universe and analyze the dynamics of a canonical scalar field (inflaton) under the slow-roll approximation. We study the resulting inflationary phenomenology for power-law and Starobinsky potentials. For power-law potentials, the MHR modification fails to reconcile these models with current CMB constraints on $r$ and $n_s$. In contrast, Starobinsky inflation exhibits significant sensitivity to deviations from $n=1$. A perturbative analysis ($n=1+\Delta$) yields corrections to inflationary observables. We observe that the scalar power-spectrum normalization, under a fixed-Starobinsky prescription, imposes the stringent constraint $0.960 \lesssim n \lesssim 1.040$ for $N=60$ efolds. This is considerably tighter than spectral-index bounds. Our results establish inflation, particularly Starobinsky-like models, as a sensitive probe of generalized horizon thermodynamics and departures from standard MHR scaling.

gr-qc

Improving the Sensitivity of Gravitational Wave Detection with Weighted Conformal Prediction

In the last decade, kilometre-scale interferometric gravitational-wave detectors have observed hundreds of compact binary mergers, the majority of which are binary black holes. However, the data are noise-dominated, and multiple independent search algorithms (pipelines) are used to enhance sensitivity and improve robustness. Rather than the standard approach of selecting the most significant pipeline output, we combine the outputs from all pipelines using a conformal prediction-based framework to provide statistically rigorous confidence estimates for candidate events. While combining pipelines improves sensitivity and ranking robustness, it requires a principled statistical framework that remains valid as data properties evolve across observing runs. A key challenge is distribution shifts between simulated datasets used for training and calibration and the real, unlabelled, observations used for testing, which can invalidate coverage guarantees and bias confidence estimates. In this work, we address this challenge by incorporating likelihood-ratio reweighting into our conformal prediction framework to account for covariate shift. Using mock datasets containing simulated signals, we demonstrate that weighted conformal prediction restores well-calibrated coverage under covariate shift and increases the confidence of events near the detection threshold, recovering true signals that would otherwise be missed.

gr-qc