LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA S250911ac
GCN Circular 41795
Subject
LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA S250911ac: Updated Sky localization and Source Classification
Date
2025-09-11T13:17:25Z (a day ago)
From
natalie.williams@uni-potsdam.de
Via
Web form
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration, and the KAGRA Collaboration report:
We have conducted further analysis of the LIGO Hanford Observatory (H1) and LIGO Livingston Observatory (L1) data around the time of the compact binary merger (CBC) candidate S250911ac (GCN Circular 41786). Parameter estimation has been performed using Bilby [1] and a new sky map, Bilby.offline0.multiorder.fits,0, distributed via GCN and SCiMMA notices, is available for retrieval from the GraceDB event page:
https://gracedb.ligo.org/superevents/S250911ac
%}Assuming the candidate is astrophysical, the updated classification of the GW signal, in order of descending probability,
is BBH (96%), Terrestrial (4%), BNS (<1%), or NSBH (<1%).
For the Bilby.offline0.multiorder.fits,0 sky map, the 90% credible region is 952 deg2. Marginalized over the whole sky, the a posteriori luminosity distance estimate is 1124 +/- 285 Mpc (a posteriori mean +/- standard deviation).
For further information about analysis methodology and the contents of this alert, refer to the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA Public Alerts User Guide https://emfollow.docs.ligo.org/.
[1] Ashton et al. ApJS 241, 27 (2019) doi:10.3847/1538-4365/ab06fc and Morisaki et al. PRD 108, 123040 (2023) doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.108.123040
GCN Circular 41786
Subject
LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA S250911ac: Identification of a GW compact binary merger candidate
Date
2025-09-11T08:46:44Z (a day ago)
From
Iara Tosta e Melo at UniCT <iara.tosta.melo@dfa.unict.it>
Via
Web form
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration, and the KAGRA Collaboration report:
We identified the compact binary merger candidate S250911ac during real-time processing of data from LIGO Hanford Observatory (H1) and LIGO Livingston Observatory (L1) at 2025-09-11 07:46:39.272 UTC (GPS time: 1441612017.272). The candidate was found by the Aframe [1], cWB BBH [2], GstLAL [3], MBTA [4], PyCBC Live [5], and SPIIR [6] analysis pipelines.
S250911ac is an event of interest because its false alarm rate, as estimated by the online analysis, is 6e-09 Hz, or about one in 5 years. The event's properties can be found at this URL:
https://gracedb.ligo.org/superevents/S250911ac
The initial classification of the GW signal, in order of descending probability, based on chirp-mass information only [5], is BBH (84%), NSBH (13%), Terrestrial (4%), or BNS (<1%).
Noise transients (glitches) were present in LIGO Hanford detector data within two seconds of the event time, which may affect the parameters or the significance of the candidate.
Assuming the candidate is astrophysical in origin, the probability that at least one of the compact objects is consistent with a neutron star mass (HasNS) is <1%. [7] Using the masses and spins inferred from the signal, the probability of matter outside the final compact object (HasRemnant) is <1%. [7] Both HasNS and HasRemnant consider the support of several neutron star equations of state for maximum neutron star mass. The probability that either of the binary components lies between 3 and 5 solar masses (HasMassGap) is 7%.
The source chirp mass falls with highest probability in the bin (5.5, 11.0) solar masses, assuming the candidate is astrophysical in origin.
Two sky maps are available at this time and can be retrieved from the GraceDB event page:
* bayestar.multiorder.fits,0, an initial localization generated by BAYESTAR [8], distributed via GCN and SCiMMA notices about 27 seconds after the candidate event time.
* bayestar.multiorder.fits,1, an initial localization generated by BAYESTAR [8], distributed via GCN and SCiMMA notices about 5 minutes after the candidate event time.
The preferred sky map at this time is bayestar.multiorder.fits,1. For the bayestar.multiorder.fits,1 sky map, the 90% credible region is 1012 deg2. Marginalized over the whole sky, the a posteriori luminosity distance estimate is 1102 +/- 300 Mpc (a posteriori mean +/- standard deviation).
For further information about analysis methodology and the contents of this alert, refer to the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA Public Alerts User Guide https://emfollow.docs.ligo.org/.
[1] Marx et al. PRD 111, 042010 (2025) doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.111.042010
[2] T. Mishra et al. PRD 105, 083018 (2022) doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.105.083018
[3] Tsukada et al. PRD 108, 043004 (2023) doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.108.043004 and Ewing et al. PRD 109, 042008 (2024) doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.109.042008
[4] Alléné et al. CQG 42, 105009 (2025) doi:10.1088/1361-6382/add234
[5] Dal Canton et al. ApJ 923, 254 (2021) doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac2f9a
[6] Chu et al. PRD 105, 024023 (2022) doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.105.024023
[7] Chatterjee et al. ApJ 896, 54 (2020) doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab8dbe
[8] Singer & Price PRD 93, 024013 (2016) doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.93.024013