Scientists have found evidence that gravitational waves generated by a spectacular black hole collision carry signals from the very edge of the newly formed black hole. If confirmed by future observations, this discovery could provide an entirely new way to investigate what happens in the immediate vicinity of a black hole without observing it directly.
In a new study, researchers analyzed an exceptionally strong gravitational wave event called GW250114. They identified a “direct wave”, a subtle feature of the total gravitational wave signal predicted by theory but never before found in real data. The signal appears to contain information from extremely close proximity to the black hole event horizonThe limit beyond which nothing, not even light, can escape.
The findings, published June 24 in the journal NatureSuggest that gravitational wave observatories could eventually allow astronomers to probe regions that have remained inaccessible since black holes came into existence. predicted by albert einstein principle of normal relativity.
Listening to the edge of the black hole
Although astronomers have photographed glowing material While dozens of black hole mergers have been detected around some supermassive black holes and through gravitational waves, studying event horizons remains frustratingly difficult.
Unlike normal light, Gravitational waves are tiny ripples in space-time It occurs when massive objects are accelerated. They pass through the universe almost unimpeded, carrying information about violent cosmic events that would otherwise remain hidden.
According to the study’s co-author Sizheng MaThe newly identified signal, a postdoctoral researcher at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada, offers a rare glimpse of what happens immediately after two black holes collide.
When two black holes merge, they release gravitational waves – ripples in the fabric of space-time – throughout the universe. Study of these waves can provide information about newly formed black holes.
(Image credit: K. Thorne (Caltech) and T. Carnahan (NASA GSFC))
“When two black holes merge, they also violently shake up space-time,” Ma told Live Science. “For a brief moment, the region very close to the horizon of the newly formed black hole is swept into a fast, vanishing vortex.”
Get the world’s hottest discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.
Ma explained that the direct wave is part of the gravitational wave signal generated near the horizon and carries the imprint of that motion outward through space.
“That’s why it’s so interesting,” he said. “This lets us ‘hear’ what happens near the horizon, a region we can’t see with direct light.”
The team focused on GW250114, a black hole merger detected on January 14, 2025, by two Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana.
“Our earlier theoretical work predicted that black hole mergers should generate a direct-wave signal from the near-horizon region,” Ma said. “The big question was whether this effect could actually be seen in real data.”
GW250114 was able to provide exactly the conditions needed to test that prediction.
“It was quite strong, quite clean, and quite close to the theoretical conditions where this signal should appear,” he said.
To search for the elusive feature, the researchers first removed the best-understood part of the gravitational wave signal, which comes from newly formed black holes after mergers. Then, they examined the remaining data to determine whether it consisted only of detector noise or contained some other physical signal.
“What we found was surprising,” Ma said. “The remaining signal followed the expected rhythm and fading pattern of the wave shaped by the region very close to the horizon of the final black hole.”
The team concluded that the remaining signal matches the behavior expected for a direct wave predicted by previous theoretical studies.
ESA’s upcoming LISA mission will detect gravitational waves from space, providing even greater insight into the mysterious waves than Earth-based detectors currently can.
(Image credit: All About Space/Getty Images)
A new way to detect extreme gravity
The researchers stressed that their findings do not reveal what’s inside a black hole. Instead, they are providing a new observing tool to probe the region immediately outside the event horizon.
“The gravitational wave data appear to carry an imprint from very close to the horizon of the newly formed black hole – the famous point of no return,” Ma said.
He pointed out that the measurements correspond to space-time near the horizon dragged around rapidly While the signal fades due to the intense gravitational field caused by the rotating black hole.
“For us, the exciting message is that gravitational waves can give us a new way to study the edge of a black hole using real observational data,” Ma said.
Ma believes the method could eventually be useful for exploring ideas like quantum gravity – which attempts to unify Einstein’s theory of gravity with quantum mechanics – or the black hole information paradox, the long-standing puzzle of whether information falling into a black hole is actually lost. However, it cannot yet test those questions directly.
“If quantum effects, or any deviations from the standard black-hole picture, leave a measurable imprint there, direct waves could, in principle, help us find them in the future,” he said.
More observations will be needed
The researchers cautioned that the discovery is based on a single gravitational wave event. While GW250114 provided exceptionally favorable conditions, stronger evidence will come only when similar signals are found in several additional black hole mergers.
“There are two main directions,” Ma said. “The first principle is.”
Current models capture the essential physics but remain simplified, and will require a more realistic description of black hole mergers.
“The second is observation,” he said. “This result comes from an exceptionally loud and clean event, so the strongest confirmation will come from looking at similar patterns in other black hole mergers.”
As gravitational wave observatories improve and detect increasing numbers of mergers, researchers hope to determine whether direct waves are a universal feature of black hole collisions.
“If the pattern appears repeatedly as predicted by general relativity,” Ma said, “direct waves could become a new way to study black hole horizons or regions very close to them and test Einstein’s theory in one of the most extreme environments in the universe.”
If future observations confirm the team’s results, scientists may have achieved something they’ve been seeking for decades: a direct observation window at the very edge of the black hole.
See with us how much you know about black holes Black Hole Quiz!