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.
Recommended Citation
J. Abadie et al., "Implementation and Testing of the First Prompt Search for Gravitational Wave Transients with Electromagnetic Counterparts," Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 539, EDP Sciences, Mar 2012.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201118219
Department(s)
Physics
Keywords and Phrases
Burst signals; Detection threshold; Directional information; Globular clusters; Low-latency; Methods: observational; Milky ways; Monte Carlo Simulation; Neutron stars; Source position; Time lag; Wide-field; Electromagnetism; Galaxies; Gravity waves; Monte Carlo methods; Stars; Wireless sensor networks; Gravitational effects; Gravitational waves
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
0004-6361
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2012 EDP Sciences, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Mar 2012
