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A binary black hole is a binary system whose two components are black holes. Gravitational waves carry away orbital energy and angular momentum, gradually reducing the separation; sufficiently close systems progress through inspiral, merger and the settling of the final black hole. The increasing orbital angular velocity produces a signal whose gravitational-wave frequency rises, called a chirp. In GW150914, two LIGO interferometers recorded a signal sweeping from about 35 to 250 hertz in September 2015. Comparing that measured gravitational wave strain with general relativity waveforms inferred the component masses and the merger's properties. This permits the study of systems that need no luminous surrounding gas to be detected.^[ref]

A Newtonian binary chirp is a leading-order model in which loss of orbital energy to gravitational radiation makes an almost circular binary system shrink and its gravitational-wave frequency rise. Here is a derivation with explicit SI units. Let the constant component masses $m_1,m_2$ be in kilograms, $M=m_1+m_2$, $\mu =m_1{m}_2/M$, separation $a$ in metres, and orbital angular frequency $\Omega$ in radians per second. Newtonian gravity, circular motion and the quadrupole formula giveThe factor $\pi$ rather than $2\pi$ appears because the dominant mass quadrupole moment repeats twice per orbit. Since $dE/da>0$, radiative energy loss implies $\dot{a}<0$, henceThe quantity $G\mathcal{M}/c^3$ is a time in seconds. Thus $K$ has units ${\mathrm{s}}^{5/3}$ and $K{f}^{11/3}$ has units ${\mathrm{s}}^{-2}$, as required for frequency change per second. This model assumes weak gravity, slow relative motion, negligible eccentricity of a conic, no spin corrections and adiabatic evolution over an orbit. It does not describe merger or ringdown.

Separating variables gives a finite formal coalescence time $t_c$ and accumulated wave phase $\Phi$:Indeed $d\Phi /dt=2\pi f$; the formal divergence at $t_c$ signals extrapolation outside the approximation. Over a finite frequency interval, the number of gravitational wave cycles is $N=3(f_0^{-5/3}-f_1^{-5/3})/(5K)$. This accumulated phase is why a chirp mass can be constrained even when distance and inclination remain entangled.