Optical follow-up of gravitational wave triggers with DECam during the first two LIGO/VIRGO observing runs

Herner, K.; Annis, J.; Brout, D.; Soares-Santos, M.; Kessler, R.; Šako, M.; Butler, R. E.; Doctor, Z.; Palmese, A.; Allam, S.; Tucker, D. L.; Sobreira, F.; Yanny, B.; Diehl, H. T.; Frieman, Joshua A.; Glaeser, Noemi; García, A.; Sherman, Nora; Bechtol, K.; Berger, E.; Chen, H.Y.; Conselice, C. J.; Cook, Erika; Cowperthwaite, P. S.; Davis, Tamara M.; Drlica-Wagner, A.; Farr, B.; Finley, D. A.; Foley, R. J.; García-Bellido, J.; Gill, M. S.; Gruendl, R. A.; Holz, D. E.; Kuropatkin, N.; Lin, Hsing Wen; Marriner, J.; Marshall, J. L.; Matheson, T.; Neilsen, Eric H.; Paz-Chinchón, F.; Sauseda, M.; Scolnic, D.; Williams, Peter K. G.; Ávila, S.; Bertin, E.; Buckley-Geer, E.; Burke, D. L.; Rosell, A. Carnero; Kind, M. Carrasco; Carretero, J.; Costa, L. N. da; Vicente, J. De; Desai, S.; Doel, P.; Eifler, T. F.; Everett, S.; Fosalba, P.; Gaztañaga, E.; Gerdes, D. W.; Gschwend, J.; Gutiérrez, G.; Hartley, W. G.; Hollowood, D. L.; Honscheid, K.; James, D. J.; Krause, E.; Kuêhn, K.; Lahav, O.; Li, T.S.; Lima, M.; Maia, M. A. G.; March, M.; Menanteau, F.; Miquel, R.; Plazas, A. A.; Sanchez, E. J.; Scarpine, V.; Schubnell, M.; Serrano, S.; Sevilla-Noarbe, I.; Smith, M.; Suchyta, E.; Tarlè, G.; Wester, W.; Zhang, Y.

doi:10.1016/j.ascom.2020.100425

Cited by 15 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…The DECam images were processed by the DES Difference Imaging Pipeline (Herner et al 2020), an updated version of the DES SN Program's Pipeline described in Kessler et al (2015), using coadded DES wide-field survey images (Abbott et al 2018) as templates.…”

Section: Decam Search Campaignmentioning

confidence: 99%

SOAR/Goodman Spectroscopic Assessment of Candidate Counterparts of the LIGO/Virgo Event GW190814*

Tucker

Wiesner

Allam

et al. 2022

ApJ

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On 2019 August 14 at 21:10:39 UTC, the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration (LVC) detected a possible neutron star–black hole merger (NSBH), the first ever identified. An extensive search for an optical counterpart of this event, designated GW190814, was undertaken using the Dark Energy Camera on the 4 m Victor M. Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Target of Opportunity interrupts were issued on eight separate nights to observe 11 candidates using the 4.1 m Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope’s Goodman High Throughput Spectrograph in order to assess whether any of these transients was likely to be an optical counterpart of the possible NSBH merger. Here, we describe the process of observing with SOAR, the analysis of our spectra, our spectroscopic typing methodology, and our resultant conclusion that none of the candidates corresponded to the gravitational wave merger event but were all instead other transients. Finally, we describe the lessons learned from this effort. Application of these lessons will be critical for a successful community spectroscopic follow-up program for LVC observing run 4 (O4) and beyond.

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Section: Decam Search Campaignmentioning

confidence: 99%

SOAR/Goodman Spectroscopic Assessment of Candidate Counterparts of the LIGO/Virgo Event GW190814*

Tucker

Wiesner

Allam

et al. 2022

ApJ

Self Cite

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“…This program will rely on a high-efficiency search and discovery campaign using ground-based telescopes in tandem with the next generation of gravitational waves detectors. A pioneering version of this program is currently being pursued by the Dark Energy Survey collaboration (the DESGW program [21]) using DECam for imaging and other telescopes for spectroscopic followup to confirm candidates. Here, we do not describe in detail the scope of future observations, but we anticipate that a new telescope/instrument systems will be required to perform rapid follow-up observations.…”

Section: Dark Energy Science With Gravitational Wave Standard Sirensmentioning

confidence: 99%

Snowmass2021 Cosmic Frontier CF6 White Paper: Multi-Experiment Probes for Dark Energy -- Transients

Kim¹,

Palmese²,

Pereira³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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This invited Snowmass 2021 White Paper highlights the power of joint-analysis of astronomical transients in advancing HEP Science and presents research activities that can realize the opportunities that come with current and upcoming projects. Transients of interest include gravitational wave events, neutrino events, strongly-lensed quasars and supernovae, and Type Ia supernovae specifically. These transients can serve as probes of cosmological distances in the Universe and as cosmic laboratories of extreme strong-gravity, high-energy physics. Joint analysis refers to work that requires significant coordination from multiple experiments or facilities so encompasses Multi-Messenger Astronomy and optical transient discovery and distributed follow-up programs.

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“…Searches for transient objects generally need to take into account factors that affect the detectability of sources, such as the galactic dust extinction and the stellar density [40], [41]. The algorithm developed by various groups to construct electromagnetic follow-up strategies ( [42] [43], [44]) emphasise the impact of dust extinction and stellar density as variables on the detectability of electromagnetic transients associated with gravitational-wave sources. The example described in the present paper is admittedly oversimplified but at the same time provides step-by-step guidelines to customise new results and proper working processes.…”

Section: Identifying High Dust Extinction Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi Order Coverage data structure to plan multi-messenger observations

Greco¹,

Punturo²,

Allen³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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We describe the use of Multi Order Coverage (MOC) maps as a practical way to manage complex regions of the sky for the planning of multi-messenger observations. MOC maps are a data structure that provides a multi-resolution representation of irregularly shaped and fragmentary regions over the sky based on the HEALPix (Hierarchical Equal Area isoLatitude Pixelization) tessellation. We present a new application of MOC, in combination with the astroplan observation planning package, to enable the efficient computation of sky regions and the visibility of these regions from a specific location on the Earth at a particular time.Using the example of the low-latency gravitational-wave alerts, and a simulated observational campaign with three observatories, we show that the use of MOC maps allows a high level of interoperability to support observing schedule plans. Gravitational-wave detections have an associated credible region localization on the sky. We demonstrate that these localizations can be encoded as MOC maps, and how they can be used in visualisation tools, and processed (filtered, combined) and also their utility for access to Virtual Observatory services

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Optical follow-up of gravitational wave triggers with DECam during the first two LIGO/VIRGO observing runs

Cited by 15 publications

References 69 publications

SOAR/Goodman Spectroscopic Assessment of Candidate Counterparts of the LIGO/Virgo Event GW190814*

SOAR/Goodman Spectroscopic Assessment of Candidate Counterparts of the LIGO/Virgo Event GW190814*

Snowmass2021 Cosmic Frontier CF6 White Paper: Multi-Experiment Probes for Dark Energy -- Transients

Multi Order Coverage data structure to plan multi-messenger observations

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