Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
201,683 studies31 sourcesUpdated 14 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0The Astrophysical Journal

GWTC-4.0: Searches for Gravitational-wave Lensing Signatures

  • A. G. Abac1
  • I. Abouelfettouh2
  • F. Acernese3,4
  • K. Ackley5
  • C. Adamcewicz6
  • S. Adhicary7
  • D. Adhikari1,8
  • N. Adhikari9
  • R. X. Adhikari10
  • V. K. Adkins11
  • S. Afroz12
  • A. Agapito13
1,760 more authors
  • D. Agarwal14
  • M. Agathos15
  • N. Aggarwal16
  • S. Aggarwal17
  • O. D. Aguiar18
  • I.-L. Ahrend19
  • L. Aiello20,4
  • A. Ain21
  • P. Ajith22
  • T. Akutsu23,24
  • S. Albanesi25,26
  • W. Ali4,27
  • S. Al-Kershi1,8
  • C. Alléné28
  • A. Allocca29,4
  • S. Al-Shammari30
  • P. A. Altin6
  • S. Alvarez-Lopez10
  • W. Amar28
  • O. Amarasinghe30
  • A. Amato31,32
  • F. Amicucci4,33
  • C. Amra34
  • A. Ananyeva10
  • S. B. Anderson10
  • W. G. Anderson10
  • M. Andia35
  • M. Ando36
  • M. Andrés-Carcasona37
  • T. Andrić38,4,1,8
  • J. Anglin39
  • S. Ansoldi40,4
  • J. M. Antelis
  • S. Antier35
  • M. Aoumi
  • E. Z. Appavuravther4
  • S. Appert10
  • S. K. Apple
  • K. Arai10
  • A. Araya36
  • M. C. Araya10
  • M. Arca Sedda38,4
  • J. S. Areeda
  • N. Aritomi2
  • F. Armato4,27
  • S. Armstrong
  • N. Arnaud
  • M. Arogeti

60 listed; 1,772 in total.

40 affiliations
  1. 1Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
  2. 2LIGO Hanford Observatory
  3. 3Dipartimento di Farmacia
  4. 4INFN
  5. 5University of Warwick
  6. 6OzGrav
  7. 7The Pennsylvania State University
  8. 8Leibniz Universität Hannover
  9. 9University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
  10. 10LIGO Laboratory
  11. 11Louisiana State University
  12. 12Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
  13. 13Centre de Physique Théorique
  14. 14Université catholique de Louvain
  15. 15Queen Mary University of London
  16. 16University of California
  17. 17University of Minnesota
  18. 18Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais
  19. 19Université Paris Cité
  20. 20Università di Roma Tor Vergata
  21. 21Universiteit Antwerpen
  22. 22International Centre for Theoretical Sciences
  23. 23Gravitational Wave Science Project
  24. 24Advanced Technology Center
  25. 25Theoretisch-Physikalisches Institut
  26. 26INFN Sezione di Torino
  27. 27Dipartimento di Fisica
  28. 28Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc
  29. 29Università di Napoli “Federico II”
  30. 30Cardiff University
  31. 31Maastricht University
  32. 32Nikhef
  33. 33Università di Roma “La Sapienza”
  34. 34Aix Marseille Univ
  35. 35Université Paris-Saclay
  36. 36University of Tokyo
  37. 37Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE)
  38. 38Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI)
  39. 39University of Florida
  40. 40Dipartimento di Scienze Matematiche
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

Gravitational waves can be gravitationally lensed by massive objects along their path. Depending on the lens mass and the lens–source geometry, this can lead to the observation of a single distorted signal, multiple repeated events, or a mixture of both. We present the results for gravitational-wave lensing searches on the data from the first part of the fourth LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA observing run (O4a). We search for strongly lensed events in the newly acquired data by (1) searching for an overall phase shift present in an image formed at a saddle point of the lens potential, (2) looking for pairs of detected candidates with consistent frequency evolution, and (3) identifying subthreshold counterpart candidates to the detected signals. Beyond strong lensing, we also look for lensing-induced distortions in all detected signals using an isolated point-mass model. We do not find evidence for strongly lensed gravitational-wave signals and use this result to constrain the rate of detectable strongly lensed events and the merger rate density of binary black holes at high redshift. In the search for single distorted lensed signals, we find one outlier: GW231123_135430, for which we report more detailed investigations. While this event is interesting, the associated waveform uncertainties make its interpretation complicated, and future observations of the populations of binary black holes and of gravitational lenses will help determine the probability that this event could be lensed.

Related

  1. SPT-3G D1: Foreground-Robust Lensing Templates for Primordial Gravitational Wave Searches
    Y Nakato, W.L.K Wu, Y Omori +92
    HALPreprintarXiv licenceFull textCosmologyGeneral physicsHALarXiv
  2. GWTC-5.0: Methods for Identifying and Characterizing Gravitational-wave Transients
    A.G Abac, A Abe, I Abouelfettouh +1,819
    HALPreprintLicence not statedGeneral astronomyGravitation & general relativityHAL
  3. GWTC-5.0: Constraints on the Cosmic Expansion Rate and Modified Gravitational-wave Propagation
    A.G Abac, A Abe, I Abouelfettouh +1,807
    HALPreprintLicence not statedGeneral astronomyGravitation & general relativityHAL
  4. GWTC-5.0: An Introduction to Version 5.0 of the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog
    J Bryant, the Virgo Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration +97
    University of Birmingham Research Portal (University of Birmingham)PreprintLicence not statedFull text93 citedHigh-energy astrophysicsOpenAlex
  5. GWTC-4.0: Methods for Identifying and Characterizing Gravitational-wave Transients
    Adrian Abac, I. Abouelfettouh, F. Acernese +97
    The Astrophysical Journal LettersPeer-reviewedCC BY95 citedHigh-energy astrophysicsOpenAlex

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{abac2026gwtc40,
  title = {{GWTC-4.0: Searches for Gravitational-wave Lensing Signatures}},
  author = {A. G. Abac and I. Abouelfettouh and F. Acernese and K. Ackley and C. Adamcewicz and S. Adhicary and D. Adhikari and N. Adhikari and R. X. Adhikari and V. K. Adkins and S. Afroz and A. Agapito and D. Agarwal and M. Agathos and N. Aggarwal and S. Aggarwal and O. D. Aguiar and I.-L. Ahrend and L. Aiello and A. Ain and P. Ajith and T. Akutsu and S. Albanesi and W. Ali and S. Al-Kershi and C. Alléné and A. Allocca and S. Al-Shammari and P. A. Altin and S. Alvarez-Lopez and W. Amar and O. Amarasinghe and A. Amato and F. Amicucci and C. Amra and A. Ananyeva and S. B. Anderson and W. G. Anderson and M. Andia and M. Ando and M. Andrés-Carcasona and T. Andrić and J. Anglin and S. Ansoldi and J. M. Antelis and S. Antier and M. Aoumi and E. Z. Appavuravther and S. Appert and S. K. Apple and K. Arai and A. Araya and M. C. Araya and M. Arca Sedda and J. S. Areeda and N. Aritomi and F. Armato and S. Armstrong and N. Arnaud and M. Arogeti},
  journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ae9744},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae9744},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - GWTC-4.0: Searches for Gravitational-wave Lensing Signatures
AU  - A. G. Abac
AU  - I. Abouelfettouh
AU  - F. Acernese
AU  - K. Ackley
AU  - C. Adamcewicz
AU  - S. Adhicary
AU  - D. Adhikari
AU  - N. Adhikari
AU  - R. X. Adhikari
AU  - V. K. Adkins
AU  - S. Afroz
AU  - A. Agapito
AU  - D. Agarwal
AU  - M. Agathos
AU  - N. Aggarwal
AU  - S. Aggarwal
AU  - O. D. Aguiar
AU  - I.-L. Ahrend
AU  - L. Aiello
AU  - A. Ain
AU  - P. Ajith
AU  - T. Akutsu
AU  - S. Albanesi
AU  - W. Ali
AU  - S. Al-Kershi
AU  - C. Alléné
AU  - A. Allocca
AU  - S. Al-Shammari
AU  - P. A. Altin
AU  - S. Alvarez-Lopez
AU  - W. Amar
AU  - O. Amarasinghe
AU  - A. Amato
AU  - F. Amicucci
AU  - C. Amra
AU  - A. Ananyeva
AU  - S. B. Anderson
AU  - W. G. Anderson
AU  - M. Andia
AU  - M. Ando
AU  - M. Andrés-Carcasona
AU  - T. Andrić
AU  - J. Anglin
AU  - S. Ansoldi
AU  - J. M. Antelis
AU  - S. Antier
AU  - M. Aoumi
AU  - E. Z. Appavuravther
AU  - S. Appert
AU  - S. K. Apple
AU  - K. Arai
AU  - A. Araya
AU  - M. C. Araya
AU  - M. Arca Sedda
AU  - J. S. Areeda
AU  - N. Aritomi
AU  - F. Armato
AU  - S. Armstrong
AU  - N. Arnaud
AU  - M. Arogeti
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/05
JO  - The Astrophysical Journal
DO  - 10.3847/1538-4357/ae9744
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae9744
AB  - Gravitational waves can be gravitationally lensed by massive objects along their path. Depending on the lens mass and the lens–source geometry, this can lead to the observation of a single distorted signal, multiple repeated events, or a mixture of both. We present the results for gravitational-wave lensing searches on the data from the first part of the fourth LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA observing run (O4a). We search for strongly lensed events in the newly acquired data by (1) searching for an overall phase shift present in an image formed at a saddle point of the lens potential, (2) looking for pairs of detected candidates with consistent frequency evolution, and (3) identifying subthreshold counterpart candidates to the detected signals. Beyond strong lensing, we also look for lensing-induced distortions in all detected signals using an isolated point-mass model. We do not find evidence for strongly lensed gravitational-wave signals and use this result to constrain the rate of detectable strongly lensed events and the merger rate density of binary black holes at high redshift. In the search for single distorted lensed signals, we find one outlier: GW231123_135430, for which we report more detailed investigations. While this event is interesting, the associated waveform uncertainties make its interpretation complicated, and future observations of the populations of binary black holes and of gravitational lenses will help determine the probability that this event could be lensed.
SN  - 1538-4357
SN  - 0004-637X
ER  -