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Title: A DESGW Search for the Electromagnetic Counterpart to the LIGO/Virgo Gravitational-wave Binary Neutron Star Merger Candidate S190510g

Abstract

We present the results from a search for the electromagnetic counterpart of the LIGO/Virgo event S190510g using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam). S190510g is a binary neutron star (BNS) merger candidate of moderate significance detected at a distance of 227 ± 92 Mpc and localized within an area of 31 (1166) square degrees at 50% (90%) confidence. While this event was later classified as likely nonastrophysical in nature within 30 hours of the event, our short latency search and discovery pipeline identified 11 counterpart candidates, all of which appear consistent with supernovae following offline analysis and spectroscopy by other instruments. Later reprocessing of the images enabled the recovery of six more candidates. Additionally, we implement our candidate selection procedure on simulated kilonovae and supernovae under DECam observing conditions (e.g., seeing and exposure time) with the intent of quantifying our search efficiency and making informed decisions on observing strategy for future similar events. This is the first BNS counterpart search to employ a comprehensive simulation-based efficiency study. We find that using the current follow-up strategy, there would need to be 19 events similar to S190510g for us to have a 99% chance of detecting an optical counterpart, assuming a GW170817-like kilonova.more » We further conclude that optimization of observing plans, which should include preference for deeper images over multiple color information, could result in up to a factor of 1.5 reduction in the total number of follow-ups needed for discovery.« less

Authors:
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Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); National Science Foundation (NSF); Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
Contributing Org.:
DES Collaboration
OSTI Identifier:
1638656
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1768041; OSTI ID: 1783259; OSTI ID: 1809946
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-PUB-20-255-AE; arXiv:2007.00050
Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357; oai:inspirehep.net:1804591
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-07CH11359; AC02-76SF00515; AC02- 07CH11359; AST-1138766; AST-1536171; 240672; 291329; 306478; 1829740; 1744555; ESP2017-89838; PGC2018-094773; PGC2018-102021; SEV-2016-0588; SEV-2016-0597; MDM-2015-0509; SC0019193; AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online); Journal Volume: 903; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
IOP Publishing
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Citation Formats

Garcia, A., Morgan, R., Herner, K., Palmese, A., Soares-Santos, M., Annis, J., Brout, D., Vivas, A. K., Drlica-Wagner, A., Santana-Silva, L., Tucker, D. L., Allam, S., Wiesner, M., García-Bellido, J., Gill, M. S., Sako, M., Kessler, R., Davis, T. M., Scolnic, D., Casares, J., Chen, H., Conselice, C., Cooke, J., Doctor, Z., Foley, R. J., Horvath, J., Howell, D. A., Kilpatrick, C. D., Lidman, C., E., F. Olivares, Paz-Chinchón, F., Pineda-G., J., Quirola-Vásquez, J., Rest, A., Sherman, N., Abbott, T. C., Aguena, M., Avila, S., Bertin, E., Bhargava, S., Brooks, D., Burke, D. L., Rosell, A. Carnero, Kind, M. Carrasco, Carretero, J., Costanzi, M., da Costa, L. N., Desai, S., Diehl, H. T., Dietrich, J. P., Doel, P., Everett, S., Flaugher, B., Fosalba, P., Friedel, D., Frieman, J., Gaztanaga, E., Gerdes, D. W., Gruen, D., Gruendl, R. A., Gschwend, J., Gutierrez, G., Hinton, S. R., Hollowood, D. L., Honscheid, K., James, D. J., Kuehn, K., Kuropatkin, N., Lahav, O., Lima, M., Maia, M. G., March, M., Marshall, J. L., Menanteau, F., Miquel, R., Ogando, R. C., Plazas, A. A., Romer, A. K., Roodman, A., Sanchez, E., Scarpine, V., Schubnell, M., Serrano, S., Sevilla-Noarbe, I., Smith, M., Suchyta, E., Swanson, M. C., Tarle, G., Thomas, D., Varga, T. N., Walker, A. R., and Weller, J. A DESGW Search for the Electromagnetic Counterpart to the LIGO/Virgo Gravitational-wave Binary Neutron Star Merger Candidate S190510g. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/abb823.
Garcia, A., Morgan, R., Herner, K., Palmese, A., Soares-Santos, M., Annis, J., Brout, D., Vivas, A. K., Drlica-Wagner, A., Santana-Silva, L., Tucker, D. L., Allam, S., Wiesner, M., García-Bellido, J., Gill, M. S., Sako, M., Kessler, R., Davis, T. M., Scolnic, D., Casares, J., Chen, H., Conselice, C., Cooke, J., Doctor, Z., Foley, R. J., Horvath, J., Howell, D. A., Kilpatrick, C. D., Lidman, C., E., F. Olivares, Paz-Chinchón, F., Pineda-G., J., Quirola-Vásquez, J., Rest, A., Sherman, N., Abbott, T. C., Aguena, M., Avila, S., Bertin, E., Bhargava, S., Brooks, D., Burke, D. L., Rosell, A. Carnero, Kind, M. Carrasco, Carretero, J., Costanzi, M., da Costa, L. N., Desai, S., Diehl, H. T., Dietrich, J. P., Doel, P., Everett, S., Flaugher, B., Fosalba, P., Friedel, D., Frieman, J., Gaztanaga, E., Gerdes, D. W., Gruen, D., Gruendl, R. A., Gschwend, J., Gutierrez, G., Hinton, S. R., Hollowood, D. L., Honscheid, K., James, D. J., Kuehn, K., Kuropatkin, N., Lahav, O., Lima, M., Maia, M. G., March, M., Marshall, J. L., Menanteau, F., Miquel, R., Ogando, R. C., Plazas, A. A., Romer, A. K., Roodman, A., Sanchez, E., Scarpine, V., Schubnell, M., Serrano, S., Sevilla-Noarbe, I., Smith, M., Suchyta, E., Swanson, M. C., Tarle, G., Thomas, D., Varga, T. N., Walker, A. R., & Weller, J. A DESGW Search for the Electromagnetic Counterpart to the LIGO/Virgo Gravitational-wave Binary Neutron Star Merger Candidate S190510g. United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abb823
Garcia, A., Morgan, R., Herner, K., Palmese, A., Soares-Santos, M., Annis, J., Brout, D., Vivas, A. K., Drlica-Wagner, A., Santana-Silva, L., Tucker, D. L., Allam, S., Wiesner, M., García-Bellido, J., Gill, M. S., Sako, M., Kessler, R., Davis, T. M., Scolnic, D., Casares, J., Chen, H., Conselice, C., Cooke, J., Doctor, Z., Foley, R. J., Horvath, J., Howell, D. A., Kilpatrick, C. D., Lidman, C., E., F. Olivares, Paz-Chinchón, F., Pineda-G., J., Quirola-Vásquez, J., Rest, A., Sherman, N., Abbott, T. C., Aguena, M., Avila, S., Bertin, E., Bhargava, S., Brooks, D., Burke, D. L., Rosell, A. Carnero, Kind, M. Carrasco, Carretero, J., Costanzi, M., da Costa, L. N., Desai, S., Diehl, H. T., Dietrich, J. P., Doel, P., Everett, S., Flaugher, B., Fosalba, P., Friedel, D., Frieman, J., Gaztanaga, E., Gerdes, D. W., Gruen, D., Gruendl, R. A., Gschwend, J., Gutierrez, G., Hinton, S. R., Hollowood, D. L., Honscheid, K., James, D. J., Kuehn, K., Kuropatkin, N., Lahav, O., Lima, M., Maia, M. G., March, M., Marshall, J. L., Menanteau, F., Miquel, R., Ogando, R. C., Plazas, A. A., Romer, A. K., Roodman, A., Sanchez, E., Scarpine, V., Schubnell, M., Serrano, S., Sevilla-Noarbe, I., Smith, M., Suchyta, E., Swanson, M. C., Tarle, G., Thomas, D., Varga, T. N., Walker, A. R., and Weller, J. Tue . "A DESGW Search for the Electromagnetic Counterpart to the LIGO/Virgo Gravitational-wave Binary Neutron Star Merger Candidate S190510g". United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abb823. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1638656.
@article{osti_1638656,
title = {A DESGW Search for the Electromagnetic Counterpart to the LIGO/Virgo Gravitational-wave Binary Neutron Star Merger Candidate S190510g},
author = {Garcia, A. and Morgan, R. and Herner, K. and Palmese, A. and Soares-Santos, M. and Annis, J. and Brout, D. and Vivas, A. K. and Drlica-Wagner, A. and Santana-Silva, L. and Tucker, D. L. and Allam, S. and Wiesner, M. and García-Bellido, J. and Gill, M. S. and Sako, M. and Kessler, R. and Davis, T. M. and Scolnic, D. and Casares, J. and Chen, H. and Conselice, C. and Cooke, J. and Doctor, Z. and Foley, R. J. and Horvath, J. and Howell, D. A. and Kilpatrick, C. D. and Lidman, C. and E., F. Olivares and Paz-Chinchón, F. and Pineda-G., J. and Quirola-Vásquez, J. and Rest, A. and Sherman, N. and Abbott, T. C. and Aguena, M. and Avila, S. and Bertin, E. and Bhargava, S. and Brooks, D. and Burke, D. L. and Rosell, A. Carnero and Kind, M. Carrasco and Carretero, J. and Costanzi, M. and da Costa, L. N. and Desai, S. and Diehl, H. T. and Dietrich, J. P. and Doel, P. and Everett, S. and Flaugher, B. and Fosalba, P. and Friedel, D. and Frieman, J. and Gaztanaga, E. and Gerdes, D. W. and Gruen, D. and Gruendl, R. A. and Gschwend, J. and Gutierrez, G. and Hinton, S. R. and Hollowood, D. L. and Honscheid, K. and James, D. J. and Kuehn, K. and Kuropatkin, N. and Lahav, O. and Lima, M. and Maia, M. G. and March, M. and Marshall, J. L. and Menanteau, F. and Miquel, R. and Ogando, R. C. and Plazas, A. A. and Romer, A. K. and Roodman, A. and Sanchez, E. and Scarpine, V. and Schubnell, M. and Serrano, S. and Sevilla-Noarbe, I. and Smith, M. and Suchyta, E. and Swanson, M. C. and Tarle, G. and Thomas, D. and Varga, T. N. and Walker, A. R. and Weller, J.},
abstractNote = {We present the results from a search for the electromagnetic counterpart of the LIGO/Virgo event S190510g using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam). S190510g is a binary neutron star (BNS) merger candidate of moderate significance detected at a distance of 227 ± 92 Mpc and localized within an area of 31 (1166) square degrees at 50% (90%) confidence. While this event was later classified as likely nonastrophysical in nature within 30 hours of the event, our short latency search and discovery pipeline identified 11 counterpart candidates, all of which appear consistent with supernovae following offline analysis and spectroscopy by other instruments. Later reprocessing of the images enabled the recovery of six more candidates. Additionally, we implement our candidate selection procedure on simulated kilonovae and supernovae under DECam observing conditions (e.g., seeing and exposure time) with the intent of quantifying our search efficiency and making informed decisions on observing strategy for future similar events. This is the first BNS counterpart search to employ a comprehensive simulation-based efficiency study. We find that using the current follow-up strategy, there would need to be 19 events similar to S190510g for us to have a 99% chance of detecting an optical counterpart, assuming a GW170817-like kilonova. We further conclude that optimization of observing plans, which should include preference for deeper images over multiple color information, could result in up to a factor of 1.5 reduction in the total number of follow-ups needed for discovery.},
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/abb823},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal (Online)},
number = 1,
volume = 903,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Nov 03 00:00:00 EST 2020},
month = {Tue Nov 03 00:00:00 EST 2020}
}

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