Physical Review Letters; The Astrophysical Journal Letters

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration (Virgo) announce the detection of gravitational waves from the spectacular collision of two black holes with “forbidden” masses. This marks the first time an intermediate-mass black hole has been observed. Two papers about the event, known as GW190521 have been accepted for publication today in the journal Physical Review Letters and The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Professor Tjonnie Li and Professor Juan Calderon Bustillo of the Department of Physics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), lead the only group in Hong Kong involved with the work of LIGO, and have been deeply involved in the analysis of this signal.