Data from the Mock Data Challenge for a single Extreme Mass Ratio Inspiral (EMRI) signal without noise and without any other signals on top of it. The small black hole starts out rather close to the horizon of the large black hole in this one, resulting in a higher pitch than the other EMRI signal.
Data from the Mock Data Challenge for a single Extreme Mass Ratio Inspiral (EMRI) signal without noise and without any other signals on top of it. The small black hole starts out rather close to the horizon of the large black hole in this one, resulting in a higher pitch than the other EMRI signal. Again, this data has been shifted upward in frequency by a factor of about 1 million, or 20 octaves. The original data represents about 2 years, but the frequency shift compresses it to less than one minute. You can hear the signal get strong and weak as LISA turns in its orbit and the source goes through the antenna pattern. The pitch of the signal rises gradually as the small black hole spirals closer and closer to the large one, and merger happens very suddenly at the end: the signal dies away in one or two cycles.