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NO CORRELATION BETWEEN FERMI GBM SIGNAL AND GW150914

Image: Merging black holes. Credit: NASA

Recently it has been suggested that electromagnetic signals detected by Fermi GBM could be associated with the merger of the two black holes detected by LIGO (GW150914).


In a recent paper (Lyutikov 2016) the author assesses that the physical constraints required by the association of the Fermi GBM signal contemporaneous with GW150914 - radiative power of 1049 erg s−1, and corresponding magnetic fields on the black hole of the order of 1012 Gauss - are astrophysically highly implausible.

Combined with the relatively high random probability of coincidence of 0.22 percents, he concludes that the electromagnetic signal is likely unrelated to the BH merger.

  • Lyutikov 2016 (preprint) - Fermi GBM signal contemporaneous with GW150914 - an unlikely association (arXiv)

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