First discovery of a neutron star colliding with a black hole
For the first time, gravitational-wave astronomers of the LIGO collaboration - including Maria Haney und Shubhanshu Tiwari from the group of Philippe Jetzer - have confirmed the detection of a collision between a black hole and a neutron star.
Visualization: T.Dietrich, N.Fischer, S.Ossokine, H.Pfeiffer, T. Vu; simulation:
The LIGO-Virgo instruments detected not one but two such events occurring just ten days apart in January of 2020. These extreme events made splashes in spacetime that sent gravitational waves rippling across 900 million light-years to reach Earth. In both cases, the neutron star was likely swallowed whole by its black hole partner. Researchers in the Gravitation & Astrophysics group at UZH are members of LIGO Scientific Collaboration and contribute to the results of gravitational wave discoveries.
The discovery paper is accepted for publication in astrophysical journal letters: link with DOI : https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ac082e
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