The LIGO/VIRGO/KAGRA collaboration, dedicated to detecting gravitational waves from cosmic events like black hole and neutron star mergers, recently announced a significant finding.

They detected a signal indicating a merger involving an object with an intermediate mass, potentially a low-mass black hole.

This discovery was detailed in a draft manuscript posted on the physics arXiv.

LIGO, with detectors in Washington state and Louisiana, along with VIRGO in Italy and KAGRA in Japan, constitutes the collaboration’s network.

The group has detected numerous merger events, including “mixed” mergers of black holes and neutron stars.

These mergers typically involve objects falling into two categories: stellar-mass black holes and supermassive black holes, ArsTechnica has reported.

The intermediate range between the heaviest neutron star and the lightest black hole is known as the “mass gap.”

Previous detections like GW190521 and GW190814 hinted at objects within this mass gap, presenting challenges in identification.

The recent event, GW230529, adds to this mystery, pairing a mass-gap object with a neutron star.

The lack of accompanying electromagnetic radiation complicates the identification process, but researchers suspect the mystery object is likely a low-mass black hole.

Written by B.C. Begley