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Title: Optical follow-up of the neutron star–black hole mergers S200105ae and S200115j

Abstract

LIGO and Virgo's third observing run (O3) revealed the first neutron star-black hole (NSBH) merger candidates in gravitational waves. These events are predicted to synthesize r-process elements creating optical/near-IR "kilonova" (KN) emission. The joint gravitational-wave (GW) and electromagnetic detection of an NSBH merger could be used to constrain the equation of state of dense nuclear matter, and independently measure the local expansion rate of the universe. Here, we present the optical follow-up and analysis of two of the only three high-significance NSBH merger candidates detected to date, S200105ae and S200115j, with the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). ZTF observed ~\,48\% of S200105ae and ~\,22\% of S200115j's localization probabilities, with observations sensitive to KNe brighter than -17.5\,mag fading at 0.5\,mag/day in g- and r-bands; extensive searches and systematic follow-up of candidates did not yield a viable counterpart. We present state-of-the-art KN models tailored to NSBH systems that place constraints on the ejecta properties of these NSBH mergers. We show that with depths of mAB≈22 mag, attainable in meter-class, wide field-of-view survey instruments, strong constraints on ejecta mass are possible, with the potential to rule out low mass ratios, high BH spins, and large neutron star radii.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [6];  [1]; ORCiD logo [7];  [8]; ORCiD logo [9]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [10];  [1];  [11];  [12]; ORCiD logo [9];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1] more »;  [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [10]; ORCiD logo [1];  [6];  [1]; ORCiD logo [13]; ORCiD logo [14]; ORCiD logo [5];  [1]; ORCiD logo [15]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [16];  [1];  [7];  [1];  [17]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [18]; ORCiD logo [17]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [19];  [1]; ORCiD logo [20] « less
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States)
  2. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States); University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
  3. KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University (Sweden)
  4. University of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
  5. Stockholm University (Sweden)
  6. American University of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates)
  7. Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron DESY, Zeuthen (Germany); Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany)
  8. University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
  9. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States); University of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
  10. University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
  11. Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences, Prague (Czech Republic)
  12. Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), Granada (Spain); Universidad de Málaga (Spain)
  13. Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), Granada (Spain); Universidad de Granada (Spain)
  14. National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu (Taiwan)
  15. Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai (India)
  16. University of Amsterdam (Netherlands)
  17. Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand (France)
  18. INAF–Instituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome (Italy)
  19. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States); University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot (Israel)
  20. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States); KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University (Sweden); Russian Academy of Sciences, Nizhnii Arkhyz (Russia)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E); National Science Foundation (NSF); Heising-Simons Foundation
OSTI Identifier:
1681212
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1784936
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0020435; 1545949; AST-1440341; 12540303; PHY-2010970; PHY-1806278
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Astronomy
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 5; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2397-3366
Publisher:
Springer Nature
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Compact astrophysical objects; High-energy astrophysics; Time-domain astronomy

Citation Formats

Anand, Shreya, Coughlin, Michael W., Kasliwal, Mansi M., Bulla, Mattia, Ahumada, Tomás, Carracedo, Ana Sagués, Almualla, Mouza, Andreoni, Igor, Stein, Robert, Foucart, Francois, Singer, Leo P., Sollerman, Jesper, Bellm, Eric C., Bolin, Bryce, Caballero-García, M. D., Castro-Tirado, Alberto J., Cenko, S. Bradley, De, Kishalay, Dekany, Richard G., Duev, Dmitry A., Feeney, Michael, Fremling, Christoffer, Goldstein, Daniel A., Golkhou, V. Zach, Graham, Matthew J., Guessoum, Nidhal, Hankins, Matthew J., Hu, Youdong, Kong, Albert H., Kool, Erik C., Kulkarni, S. R., Kumar, Harsh, Laher, Russ R., Masci, Frank J., Mróz, Przemek, Nissanke, Samaya, Porter, Michael, Reusch, Simeon, Riddle, Reed, Rosnet, Philippe, Rusholme, Ben, Serabyn, Eugene, Sánchez-Ramírez, R., Rigault, Mickael, Shupe, David L., Smith, Roger, Soumagnac, Maayane T., Walters, Richard, and Valeev, Azamat F. Optical follow-up of the neutron star–black hole mergers S200105ae and S200115j. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.1038/s41550-020-1183-3.
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Anand, Shreya, Coughlin, Michael W., Kasliwal, Mansi M., Bulla, Mattia, Ahumada, Tomás, Carracedo, Ana Sagués, Almualla, Mouza, Andreoni, Igor, Stein, Robert, Foucart, Francois, Singer, Leo P., Sollerman, Jesper, Bellm, Eric C., Bolin, Bryce, Caballero-García, M. D., Castro-Tirado, Alberto J., Cenko, S. Bradley, De, Kishalay, Dekany, Richard G., Duev, Dmitry A., Feeney, Michael, Fremling, Christoffer, Goldstein, Daniel A., Golkhou, V. Zach, Graham, Matthew J., Guessoum, Nidhal, Hankins, Matthew J., Hu, Youdong, Kong, Albert H., Kool, Erik C., Kulkarni, S. R., Kumar, Harsh, Laher, Russ R., Masci, Frank J., Mróz, Przemek, Nissanke, Samaya, Porter, Michael, Reusch, Simeon, Riddle, Reed, Rosnet, Philippe, Rusholme, Ben, Serabyn, Eugene, Sánchez-Ramírez, R., Rigault, Mickael, Shupe, David L., Smith, Roger, Soumagnac, Maayane T., Walters, Richard, & Valeev, Azamat F. Optical follow-up of the neutron star–black hole mergers S200105ae and S200115j. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-1183-3
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Anand, Shreya, Coughlin, Michael W., Kasliwal, Mansi M., Bulla, Mattia, Ahumada, Tomás, Carracedo, Ana Sagués, Almualla, Mouza, Andreoni, Igor, Stein, Robert, Foucart, Francois, Singer, Leo P., Sollerman, Jesper, Bellm, Eric C., Bolin, Bryce, Caballero-García, M. D., Castro-Tirado, Alberto J., Cenko, S. Bradley, De, Kishalay, Dekany, Richard G., Duev, Dmitry A., Feeney, Michael, Fremling, Christoffer, Goldstein, Daniel A., Golkhou, V. Zach, Graham, Matthew J., Guessoum, Nidhal, Hankins, Matthew J., Hu, Youdong, Kong, Albert H., Kool, Erik C., Kulkarni, S. R., Kumar, Harsh, Laher, Russ R., Masci, Frank J., Mróz, Przemek, Nissanke, Samaya, Porter, Michael, Reusch, Simeon, Riddle, Reed, Rosnet, Philippe, Rusholme, Ben, Serabyn, Eugene, Sánchez-Ramírez, R., Rigault, Mickael, Shupe, David L., Smith, Roger, Soumagnac, Maayane T., Walters, Richard, and Valeev, Azamat F. Mon . "Optical follow-up of the neutron star–black hole mergers S200105ae and S200115j". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-1183-3. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1681212.
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@article{osti_1681212,
title = {Optical follow-up of the neutron star–black hole mergers S200105ae and S200115j},
author = {Anand, Shreya and Coughlin, Michael W. and Kasliwal, Mansi M. and Bulla, Mattia and Ahumada, Tomás and Carracedo, Ana Sagués and Almualla, Mouza and Andreoni, Igor and Stein, Robert and Foucart, Francois and Singer, Leo P. and Sollerman, Jesper and Bellm, Eric C. and Bolin, Bryce and Caballero-García, M. D. and Castro-Tirado, Alberto J. and Cenko, S. Bradley and De, Kishalay and Dekany, Richard G. and Duev, Dmitry A. and Feeney, Michael and Fremling, Christoffer and Goldstein, Daniel A. and Golkhou, V. Zach and Graham, Matthew J. and Guessoum, Nidhal and Hankins, Matthew J. and Hu, Youdong and Kong, Albert H. and Kool, Erik C. and Kulkarni, S. R. and Kumar, Harsh and Laher, Russ R. and Masci, Frank J. and Mróz, Przemek and Nissanke, Samaya and Porter, Michael and Reusch, Simeon and Riddle, Reed and Rosnet, Philippe and Rusholme, Ben and Serabyn, Eugene and Sánchez-Ramírez, R. and Rigault, Mickael and Shupe, David L. and Smith, Roger and Soumagnac, Maayane T. and Walters, Richard and Valeev, Azamat F.},
abstractNote = {LIGO and Virgo's third observing run (O3) revealed the first neutron star-black hole (NSBH) merger candidates in gravitational waves. These events are predicted to synthesize r-process elements creating optical/near-IR "kilonova" (KN) emission. The joint gravitational-wave (GW) and electromagnetic detection of an NSBH merger could be used to constrain the equation of state of dense nuclear matter, and independently measure the local expansion rate of the universe. Here, we present the optical follow-up and analysis of two of the only three high-significance NSBH merger candidates detected to date, S200105ae and S200115j, with the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). ZTF observed ~\,48\% of S200105ae and ~\,22\% of S200115j's localization probabilities, with observations sensitive to KNe brighter than -17.5\,mag fading at 0.5\,mag/day in g- and r-bands; extensive searches and systematic follow-up of candidates did not yield a viable counterpart. We present state-of-the-art KN models tailored to NSBH systems that place constraints on the ejecta properties of these NSBH mergers. We show that with depths of mAB≈22 mag, attainable in meter-class, wide field-of-view survey instruments, strong constraints on ejecta mass are possible, with the potential to rule out low mass ratios, high BH spins, and large neutron star radii.},
doi = {10.1038/s41550-020-1183-3},
journal = {Nature Astronomy},
number = 1,
volume = 5,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Sep 14 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Mon Sep 14 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-1183-3
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