Future Implications
Thanks to these new detections, scientists have enough data to infer that nearly all stellar-mass black holes weigh less than 45 times the mass of the Sun. This work also shows how it’s possible that more binary black hole mergers occurred earlier in the universe, Pankow told
Discover magazine.
While these detections reveal information about black holes, they also open doors to future research, Pankow explained. With these 11 new events, researchers now have a wealth of new data and opportunities to explore gravitational waves and the events that create them.
In the past, our current understanding of black holes was supported by observations with X-rays, optical light, and radio waves. These methods have contributed immensely to astronomy and astrophysics. However, Pankow added, gravitational waves allow us to study and understand binary black holes in a way that can’t be done with other measures. “That’s allowed for testing our understanding of what gravity really means,” Pankow said, adding that the researchers could also use these detections to better understand how stars evolve and die.
These findings are described in two papers available on
arXiv, which houses electronic preprints of papers before peer-reviewed publication. The papers can be found
here and
here.