Adrian Abac, I. Abouelfettouh, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, Christian Adamcewicz, S. Adhicary, D. Adhikari, N. Adhikari, R. X. Adhikari, V. K. Adkins, Samsuzzaman Afroz, A. Agapito, D. Agarwal, M. Agathos, N. Aggarwal, S. Aggarwal, Odylio D. Aguiar, I.-L. Ahrend, L. Aiello, A. Ain, P. Ajith, T. Akutsu, Simone Albanesi, W. Ali, S. Al-Kershi, C. Alléné, A. Allocca, S. Al-Shammari, P. A. Altin, S. Álvarez-López, W. Amar, O. Amarasinghe, A. Amato, F. Amicucci, C. Amra, A. Ananyeva, S. B. Anderson, W. G. Anderson, M. Andia, M. Ando, M. Andrés‐Carcasona, T. Andrić, J. Anglin, Stefano Ansoldi, Javier M. Antelis, S. Antier, M. Aoumi, E. Z. Appavuravther, S. Appert, S. K. Apple, K. Arai, A. Araya, M. C. Araya, Manuel Arca Sedda, J. S. Areeda, N. Aritomi, F. Armato, Sharon Armstrong, N. Arnaud, M. Arogeti, Scott Aronson, K. G. Arun, G. Ashton, Y. Aso, L. Asprea, M Assiduo, S. Assis de Souza Melo, S. M. Aston, P. Astone, F. Attadio, F. Aubin, K. AultONeal, Guerino Avallone, E. A. Avila, S. Babak, C. Badger, S. Bae, S. Bagnasco, Luca Baiotti, R. Bajpai, T Baka, A. M. Baker, K. A. Baker, Tessa Baker, G. Baldi, N. Baldicchi, M. Ball, G Ballardin, S. W. Ballmer, S. Banagiri, B. Banerjee, D. Bankar, T. M. Baptiste, Pratyusava Baral, M. Baratti, J. C. Barayoga, B. C. Barish, D. Barker, N. Barman, P. Barneo
Abstract GW230814, detected by the LIGO Livingston observatory with a signal-to-noise ratio of 42.4, represents the loudest gravitational-wave signal in the GWTC-4.0 catalog. Its source is consistent with a binary black hole coalescence with component masses m 1 = 33 . 7 − 2.2 + 2.9 M ⊙ and m 2 = 28 . 2 − 3.1 + 2.2 M ⊙ and a small effective inspiral spin χ eff = − 0.0 1 − 0.07 + 0.06 . The high signal-to-noise ratio enabled us to detect an ℓ = ∣ m ∣ = 4 mode in the inspiral–merger–ringdown signal for the first time (with Bayes factor ≈10), as well as enabling a range of tests of consistency between theoretical predictions and the observed waveform. While most of these tests show agreement with theoretical predictions, there are suggestions of minor deviations in the ringdown phase. Simulations that incorporate general relativity and realistic detector noise reproduce similar deviations, suggesting that they do not constitute evidence for a breakdown of general relativity. The observation of GW230814 demonstrates that the unprecedented sensitivity of the detectors enables highly significant detections with a single observatory. However, without corroborating data from a multidetector network, the ability to draw rigorous conclusions about fundamental physics remains severely limited.