First Searches for Optical Counterparts to Gravitational-Wave Candidate Events

Creators: Aasi, J.; Abadie, J.; Abbott, B. P.; Abbott, R.; Abernathy, M. R.; Adhikari, R. X.; Ajith, P.; Anderson, R. A.; Anderson, S. B.; Arai, K.; Araya, M. C.; Austin, L.; Barayoga, J. C.; Billingsley, G.; Black, E.; Blackburn, J. K.; Bork, R.; Brooks, A. F.; Cepeda, C.; Chakraborty, R.; Chalermsongsak, T.; Coyne, D. C.; Daudert, B.; Dergachev, V.; Driggers, J. C.; Ehrens, P.; Etzel, T.; Fotopoulos, N.; Gushwa, K. E.; Gustafson, E. K.; Hall, E.; Harms, J.; Heefner, J.; Lewis, J. B.; Litvine, V.; Lloyd, D.; Mageswaran, M.; Mailand, K.; Maros, E.; Martynov, D.; Marx, J. N.; McIntyre, G.; Meshkov, S.; Nash, T.; Ogin, G. H.; Osthelder, C.; Pedraza, M.; Phelps, M.; Poux, C.; Price, L. R.; Privitera, S.; Quintero, E.; Raymond, V.; Reitze, D. H.; Robertson, N. A.; Rollins, J. G.; Sannibale, V.; Seifert, F.; Singer, A.; Singer, L.; Smith, M. R.; Smith-Lefebvre, N. D.; Taylor, R.; Thirugnanasambandam, M. P.; Thrane, E.; Torrie, C. I.; Vass, S.; Wallace, L.; Weinstein, A. J.; Whitcomb, S. E.; Williams, R.; Yamamoto, H.; Yeaton-Massey, D.; Zhang, L.; Zweizig, J.; Chen, Y.; Gossan, S.; Hong, T.; Kaufman, K.; Luan, J.; Miao, H.; Thorne, K. S.; Vallisneri, M.; Yang, H.; Drever, R. W. P.; Cao, Y.; Laher, R. R.; Nissanke, S.; Heptonstall, A. W.; Hodge, K. A.; Jacobson, M.; James, E.; Kalmus, P.; Kells, W.; King, P. J.; Kondrashov, V.; Korth, W. Z.; Kozak, D.; Lazzarini, A.; Kasliwal, M. M.; LIGO Scientific Collaboration; Virgo Collaboration

Abstract

During the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory and Virgo joint science runs in 2009-2010, gravitational wave (GW) data from three interferometer detectors were analyzed within minutes to select GW candidate events and infer their apparent sky positions. Target coordinates were transmitted to several telescopes for follow-up observations aimed at the detection of an associated optical transient. Images were obtained for eight such GW candidates. We present the methods used to analyze the image data as well as the transient search results. No optical transient was identified with a convincing association with any of these candidates, and none of the GW triggers showed strong evidence for being astrophysical in nature. We compare the sensitivities of these observations to several model light curves from possible sources of interest, and discuss prospects for future joint GW-optical observations of this type.

Additional Information

© 2014 American Astronomical Society. Received 2013 October 30; accepted 2014 January 18; published 2014 February 11. We thank J. Barnes, D. Kasen, B. Metzger, and E. Nakar for providing the kilonova model light curves that we have used in our Figures 4–7. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the United States National Science Foundation for the construction and operation of the LIGO Laboratory, the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom, the Max-Planck-Society, and the State of Niedersachsen/Germany for support of the construction and operation of the GEO600 detector, and the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare and the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique for the construction and operation of the Virgo detector. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the support of the research by these agencies and by the Australian Research Council, the International Science Linkages program of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India, the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of Italy, the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, the Conselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes Balears, the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the FOCUS Programme of Foundation for Polish Science, the Royal Society, the Scottish Funding Council, the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, OTKA of Hungary, the Lyon Institute of Origins (LIO), the National Research Foundation of Korea, Industry Canada and the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, the National Science and Engineering Research Council Canada, the Carnegie Trust, the Leverhulme Trust, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Research Corporation, FIRB 2012 Project RBFR12PM1F (Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research), and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This work is based on results partially obtained at the ESO observatory, La Silla. The Liverpool Telescope is operated on the island of La Palma by Liverpool John Moores University in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias with financial support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council. This document has been assigned the identifier LIGO-P1200171-v19.

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