skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


  • NSF Public Access
  • Search Results
  • ASAS-SN search for optical counterparts of gravitational-wave events from the third observing run of Advanced LIGO/Virgo
Title: ASAS-SN search for optical counterparts of gravitational-wave events from the third observing run of Advanced LIGO/Virgo
ABSTRACT We report on the search for electromagnetic counterparts to the nine gravitational-wave events with a >60 per cent probability of containing a neutron star during the third observing run (O3) of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO)–Virgo Collaboration (LVC) with the All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN). No optical counterparts associated with a gravitational-wave event were found. However, thanks to its network of telescopes, the average area visible to at least one ASAS-SN site during the first 10 h after the trigger contained ∼30 per cent of the integrated source location probability. Through a combination of normal operations and target-of-opportunity observations, ASAS-SN observations of the highest probability fields began within 1 h of the trigger for four of the events. After 24 h, ASAS-SN observed >60 per cent of total probability for three events and >40 per cent for all but one of the events. This is the largest area coverage to a depth of g = 18.5 mag from any survey with published coverage statistics for seven of the nine events. With its observing strategy, five sites around the world, and a large field of view, ASAS-SN will be one of the leading surveys to optically search for nearby neutron star mergers during LVC fourth observation run (O4).  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1908570 2012955 1908952
PAR ID:
10342149
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume:
509
Issue:
3
ISSN:
0035-8711
Page Range / eLocation ID:
3427 to 3440
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)
    ABSTRACT GRANDMA (Global Rapid Advanced Network Devoted to the Multi-messenger Addicts) is a network of 25 telescopes of different sizes, including both photometric and spectroscopic facilities. The network aims to coordinate follow-up observations of gravitational-wave (GW) candidate alerts, especially those with large localization uncertainties, to reduce the delay between the initial detection and the optical confirmation. In this paper, we detail GRANDMA’s observational performance during Advanced LIGO/Advanced Virgo Observing Run 3 (O3), focusing on the second part of O3; this includes summary statistics pertaining to coverage and possible astrophysical origin of the candidates. To do so, we quantify our observation efficiency in terms of delay between GW candidate trigger time, observations, and the total coverage. Using an optimized and robust coordination system, GRANDMA followed-up about 90 per cent of the GW candidate alerts, that is 49 out of 56 candidates. This led to coverage of over 9000 deg2 during O3. The delay between the GW candidate trigger and the first observation was below 1.5 h for 50 per cent of the alerts. We did not detect any electromagnetic counterparts to the GW candidates during O3, likely due to the very large localization areas (on average thousands of degrees squares) and relatively large distance of the candidates (above 200 Mpc for 60 per cent of binary neutron star, BNS candidates). We derive constraints on potential kilonova properties for two potential BNS coalescences (GW190425 and S200213t), assuming that the events’ locations were imaged. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)
    ABSTRACT GW170817 showed that neutron star mergers not only emit gravitational waves but also can release electromagnetic signatures in multiple wavelengths. Within the first half of the third observing run of the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors, there have been a number of gravitational wave candidates of compact binary systems for which at least one component is potentially a neutron star. In this article, we look at the candidates S190425z, S190426c, S190510g, S190901ap, and S190910h, predicted to have potentially a non-zero remnant mass, in more detail. All these triggers have been followed up with extensive campaigns by the astronomical community doing electromagnetic searches for their optical counterparts; however, according to the released classification, there is a high probability that some of these events might not be of extraterrestrial origin. Assuming that the triggers are caused by a compact binary coalescence and that the individual source locations have been covered during the EM follow-up campaigns, we employ three different kilonova models and apply them to derive possible constraints on the matter ejection consistent with the publicly available gravitational-wave trigger information and the lack of a kilonova detection. These upper bounds on the ejecta mass can be related to limits on the maximum mass of the binary neutron star candidate S190425z and to constraints on the mass-ratio, spin, and NS compactness for the potential black hole–neutron star candidate S190426c. Our results show that deeper electromagnetic observations for future gravitational wave events near the horizon limit of the advanced detectors are essential. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)
    null (Ed.)
    ABSTRACT Joint multimessenger observations with gravitational waves and electromagnetic (EM) data offer new insights into the astrophysical studies of compact objects. The third Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo observing run began on 2019 April 1; during the 11 months of observation, there have been 14 compact binary systems candidates for which at least one component is potentially a neutron star. Although intensive follow-up campaigns involving tens of ground and space-based observatories searched for counterparts, no EM counterpart has been detected. Following on a previous study of the first six months of the campaign, we present in this paper the next five months of the campaign from 2019 October to 2020 March. We highlight two neutron star–black hole candidates (S191205ah and S200105ae), two binary neutron star candidates (S191213g and S200213t), and a binary merger with a possible neutron star and a ‘MassGap’ component, S200115j. Assuming that the gravitational-wave (GW) candidates are of astrophysical origin and their location was covered by optical telescopes, we derive possible constraints on the matter ejected during the events based on the non-detection of counterparts. We find that the follow-up observations during the second half of the third observing run did not meet the necessary sensitivity to constrain the source properties of the potential GW candidate. Consequently, we suggest that different strategies have to be used to allow a better usage of the available telescope time. We examine different choices for follow-up surveys to optimize sky localization coverage versus observational depth to understand the likelihood of counterpart detection. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, The Astrophysical Journal)
    Abstract We search for gravitational-wave signals associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Fermi and Swift satellites during the second half of the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo (2019 November 1 15:00 UTC–2020 March 27 17:00 UTC). We conduct two independent searches: a generic gravitational-wave transients search to analyze 86 GRBs and an analysis to target binary mergers with at least one neutron star as short GRB progenitors for 17 events. We find no significant evidence for gravitational-wave signals associated with any of these GRBs. A weighted binomial test of the combined results finds no evidence for subthreshold gravitational-wave signals associated with this GRB ensemble either. We use several source types and signal morphologies during the searches, resulting in lower bounds on the estimated distance to each GRB. Finally, we constrain the population of low-luminosity short GRBs using results from the first to the third observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. The resulting population is in accordance with the local binary neutron star merger rate. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, The Astrophysical Journal)
    Abstract Using data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, we searched for high-energy neutrino emission from the gravitational-wave events detected by the advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors during their third observing run. We did a low-latency follow-up on the public candidate events released during the detectors’ third observing run and an archival search on the 80 confident events reported in the GWTC-2.1 and GWTC-3 catalogs. An extended search was also conducted for neutrino emission on longer timescales from neutron star containing mergers. Follow-up searches on the candidate optical counterpart of GW190521 were also conducted. We used two methods; an unbinned maximum likelihood analysis and a Bayesian analysis using astrophysical priors, both of which were previously used to search for high-energy neutrino emission from gravitational-wave events. No significant neutrino emission was observed by any analysis, and upper limits were placed on the time-integrated neutrino flux as well as the total isotropic equivalent energy emitted in high-energy neutrinos. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email