Implementation and testing of the first prompt search for gravitational wave transients with electromagnetic counterparts
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Author(s)
Barsotti, Lisa
Bodiya, Timothy P.
Corbitt, Thomas R
Donovan, Frederick J
Dwyer, S.
Evans, M.
Foley, Stephany
Fridriksson, Joel Karl
Fritschel, Peter K.
Harry, Gregory
Date Issued
March 2012
Journal
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Publisher
EDP Sciences
Citation
Abadie, J. et al. "Implementation and testing of the first prompt search for gravitational wave transients with electromagnetic counterparts." Astronomy & Astrophysics 539 (March 2012): A124 © 2012 ESO.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Aims. A transient astrophysical event observed in both gravitational wave (GW) and electromagnetic (EM) channels would yield rich scientific rewards. A first program initiating EM follow-ups to possible transient GW events has been developed and exercised by the LIGO and Virgo community in association with several partners. In this paper, we describe and evaluate the methods used to promptly identify and localize GW event candidates and to request images of targeted sky locations. Methods. During two observing periods (Dec. 17, 2009 to Jan. 8, 2010 and Sep. 2 to Oct. 20, 2010), a low-latency analysis pipeline was used to identify GW event candidates and to reconstruct maps of possible sky locations. A catalog of nearby galaxies and Milky Way globular clusters was used to select the most promising sky positions to be imaged, and this directional information was delivered to EM observatories with time lags of about thirty minutes. A Monte Carlo simulation has been used to evaluate the low-latency GW pipeline's ability to reconstruct source positions correctly. Results. For signals near the detection threshold, our low-latency algorithms often localized simulated GW burst signals to tens of square degrees, while neutron star/neutron star inspirals and neutron star/black hole inspirals were localized to a few hundred square degrees. Localization precision improves for moderately stronger signals. The correct sky location of signals well above threshold and originating from nearby galaxies may be observed with ∼50% or better probability with a few pointings of wide-field telescopes.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Lincoln Laboratory
LIGO (Observatory : Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201118219
