<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt8Z_uzG71o" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This</a> is a better simulation SXS did for the LIGO detection (still frame below), the two event horizons (Schwarzschild Radii as you say) just simply come together and merge quite effortlessly like two bubbles in a bath coming together and merging into one. I don't know if you were expecting something more dramatic than this but there is no reason to suggest its a violent event.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/17WLL.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/17WLL.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T16:19:19.690Z
I feel like it would be stronger especially from an outside perspective. Space-time is getting incredibly warped, so relative to us wouldn't the merging black holes look warped or be warped as well?
Pulchritude
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T16:19:25.200Z
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-2XIuNFgD0
Pulchritude
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T16:24:04.550Z
@Pulchritude That video is actually a good representation to what happens to spacetime during the merger, but the event horizons themselves are just following the potentials generated by the mass of the singularity inside, these will remain fairly spherical until the very last instance when the two horizons join and merge.
Dean
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T18:15:24.617Z
It is among the most violent events in the universe!!! Three solar masses were converted into gravitational wave energy.
ProfRob
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-12T04:59:49.390Z
A still more glorious dawn awaits...
wogsland
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T16:13:22.940Z
2016-03-03T16:13:22.940Z
Dean
<p>I was reading the paper about LIGO's detection of gravitational waves, and I wanted to know what the Schwarzschild Radius did. For example, I feel like the <a href="https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/video/ligo20160211v4">simulation here</a> is oversimplified, and that reality wouldn't actually have that simple bump together of the two radii.</p>

<gravity><black-hole><space-time><gravitational-waves>
When black holes such as those detected by LIGO merge, in what ways does the Schwarzschild Radius warp?
Pulchritude
# When black holes such as those detected by LIGO merge, in what ways does the Schwarzschild Radius warp?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-03-03)

I was reading the paper about LIGO's detection of gravitational waves, and I wanted to know what the Schwarzschild Radius did. For example, I feel like the [simulation here](https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/video/ligo20160211v4) is oversimplified, and that reality wouldn't actually have that simple bump together of the two radii.

**Tags:** gravity, black-hole, space-time, gravitational-waves


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-03-03. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

[This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt8Z_uzG71o) is a better simulation SXS did for the LIGO detection (still frame below), the two event horizons (Schwarzschild Radii as you say) just simply come together and merge quite effortlessly like two bubbles in a bath coming together and merging into one. I don't know if you were expecting something more dramatic than this but there is no reason to suggest its a violent event.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/17WLL.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/17WLL.jpg)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I feel like it would be stronger especially from an outside perspective. Space-time is getting incredibly warped, so relative to us wouldn't the merging black holes look warped or be warped as well?  
> **username_0**: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-2XIuNFgD0  
> **username_1**: @username_0 That video is actually a good representation to what happens to spacetime during the merger, but the event horizons themselves are just following the potentials generated by the mass of the singularity inside, these will remain fairly spherical until the very last instance when the two horizons join and merge.  
> **username_2**: It is among the most violent events in the universe!!! Three solar masses were converted into gravitational wave energy.  
> **username_3**: A still more glorious dawn awaits...  

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