Going the distance: Mapping host galaxies of LIGO and Virgo sources in three dimensions using local cosmography and targeted follow-up

L. P. Singer; H. -Y. Chen; D. E. Holz; W. M. Farr; L. R. Price; V. Raymond; S. B. Cenko; N. Gehrels; J. Cannizzo; M. M. Kasliwal; S. Nissanke; M. Coughlin; B. Farr; Alex L. Urban; S. Vitale; J. Veitch; P. Graff; C. P. L. Berry; S. Mohapatra; I. Mandel

doi:10.3847/2041-8205/829/1/L15

Going the distance: Mapping host galaxies of LIGO and Virgo sources in three dimensions using local cosmography and targeted follow-up

L. P. Singer, H. -Y. Chen, D. E. Holz, W. M. Farr, L. R. Price, V. Raymond, S. B. Cenko, N. Gehrels, J. Cannizzo, M. M. Kasliwal, S. Nissanke, M. Coughlin, B. Farr, Alex L. Urban, S. Vitale, J. Veitch, P. Graff, C. P. L. Berry, S. Mohapatra, I. Mandel

Physics and Astronomy

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Abstract

The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) discovered gravitational waves (GWs) from a binary black hole merger in 2015 September and may soon observe signals from neutron star mergers. There is considerable interest in searching for their faint and rapidly fading electromagnetic (EM) counterparts, though GW position uncertainties are as coarse as hundreds of square degrees. Because LIGO's sensitivity to binary neutron stars is limited to the local universe, the area on the sky that must be searched could be reduced by weighting positions by mass, luminosity, or star formation in nearby galaxies. Since GW observations provide information about luminosity distance, combining the reconstructed volume with positions and redshifts of galaxies could reduce the area even more dramatically. A key missing ingredient has been a rapid GW parameter estimation algorithm that reconstructs the full distribution of sky location and distance. We demonstrate the first such algorithm, which takes under a minute, fast enough to enable immediate EM follow-up. By combining the three-dimensional posterior with a galaxy catalog, we can reduce the number of galaxies that could conceivably host the event by a factor of 1.4, the total exposure time for the Swift X-ray Telescope by a factor of 2, the total exposure time for a synoptic optical survey by a factor of 2, and the total exposure time for a narrow-field optical telescope by a factor of 3. This encourages us to suggest a new role for small field of view optical instruments in performing targeted searches of the most massive galaxies within the reconstructed volumes.

Original language	English
Journal	Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume	829
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8205/829/1/L15
Publication status	Published - 21 Sept 2016

Bibliographical note

For supplementary material, see https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.04242 For associated data release, see http://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/Leo.Singer/going-the-distance

Keywords

catalogs
– galaxies: distances and redshifts
gravitational waves
surveys

Access to Document

10.3847/2041-8205/829/1/L15Licence: None: All rights reserved

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Singer, L.P., Chen, H.Y., Holz, D.E., Farr, W.M., Price, L.R., Raymond, V., Cenko, S.B., Gehrels, N., Cannizzo, J., Kasliwal, M.M. and Nissanke, S., 2016. Going the distance: mapping host galaxies of LIGO and virgo sources in three dimensions using local cosmography and targeted follow-up. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 829(1), p.L15. Reproduced by permission of the AAS.
Accepted author manuscript, 974 KBLicence: None: All rights reserved
Singer_2016_ApJL_829_L15Final published version, 618 KBLicence: None: All rights reserved

Ernest Rutherford Fellowship : Dr John Veitch - Surveying black holes and neutron stars with gravitational waves
Veitch, J. (Principal Investigator)
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL
1/02/14 → 30/04/17
Project: Research Councils
Birmingham Astrophysics : Consolidated Grant 2013-2016
Vecchio, A. (Principal Investigator), Ponman, T. (Co-Investigator), Freise, A. (Co-Investigator), Smith, G. (Co-Investigator), Speake, C. (Co-Investigator), Mandel, I. (Co-Investigator), Cruise, M. (Co-Investigator), Raychaudhury, S. (Co-Investigator) & Stevens, I. (Co-Investigator)
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL
1/04/13 → 30/09/16
Project: Research Councils
UK Involvement in the Operations of Advanced LIGO
Vecchio, A. (Principal Investigator) & Freise, A. (Co-Investigator)
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL
1/08/11 → 31/12/15
Project: Research Councils

Cite this

Singer, L. P., Chen, H. .-Y., Holz, D. E., Farr, W. M., Price, L. R., Raymond, V., Cenko, S. B., Gehrels, N., Cannizzo, J., Kasliwal, M. M., Nissanke, S., Coughlin, M., Farr, B., Urban, A. L., Vitale, S., Veitch, J., Graff, P., Berry, C. P. L., Mohapatra, S., & Mandel, I. (2016). Going the distance: Mapping host galaxies of LIGO and Virgo sources in three dimensions using local cosmography and targeted follow-up. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 829(1). https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8205/829/1/L15

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title = "Going the distance: Mapping host galaxies of LIGO and Virgo sources in three dimensions using local cosmography and targeted follow-up",

abstract = "The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) discovered gravitational waves (GWs) from a binary black hole merger in 2015 September and may soon observe signals from neutron star mergers. There is considerable interest in searching for their faint and rapidly fading electromagnetic (EM) counterparts, though GW position uncertainties are as coarse as hundreds of square degrees. Because LIGO's sensitivity to binary neutron stars is limited to the local universe, the area on the sky that must be searched could be reduced by weighting positions by mass, luminosity, or star formation in nearby galaxies. Since GW observations provide information about luminosity distance, combining the reconstructed volume with positions and redshifts of galaxies could reduce the area even more dramatically. A key missing ingredient has been a rapid GW parameter estimation algorithm that reconstructs the full distribution of sky location and distance. We demonstrate the first such algorithm, which takes under a minute, fast enough to enable immediate EM follow-up. By combining the three-dimensional posterior with a galaxy catalog, we can reduce the number of galaxies that could conceivably host the event by a factor of 1.4, the total exposure time for the Swift X-ray Telescope by a factor of 2, the total exposure time for a synoptic optical survey by a factor of 2, and the total exposure time for a narrow-field optical telescope by a factor of 3. This encourages us to suggest a new role for small field of view optical instruments in performing targeted searches of the most massive galaxies within the reconstructed volumes.",

keywords = "catalogs, – galaxies: distances and redshifts, gravitational waves, surveys",

author = "Singer, {L. P.} and Chen, {H. -Y.} and Holz, {D. E.} and Farr, {W. M.} and Price, {L. R.} and V. Raymond and Cenko, {S. B.} and N. Gehrels and J. Cannizzo and Kasliwal, {M. M.} and S. Nissanke and M. Coughlin and B. Farr and Urban, {Alex L.} and S. Vitale and J. Veitch and P. Graff and Berry, {C. P. L.} and S. Mohapatra and I. Mandel",

note = "For supplementary material, see https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.04242 For associated data release, see http://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/Leo.Singer/going-the-distance",

year = "2016",

month = sep,

day = "21",

doi = "10.3847/2041-8205/829/1/L15",

language = "English",

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journal = "Astrophysical Journal Letters",

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Singer, LP, Chen, H-Y, Holz, DE, Farr, WM, Price, LR, Raymond, V, Cenko, SB, Gehrels, N, Cannizzo, J, Kasliwal, MM, Nissanke, S, Coughlin, M, Farr, B, Urban, AL, Vitale, S, Veitch, J, Graff, P, Berry, CPL, Mohapatra, S & Mandel, I 2016, 'Going the distance: Mapping host galaxies of LIGO and Virgo sources in three dimensions using local cosmography and targeted follow-up', Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 829, no. 1. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8205/829/1/L15

TY - JOUR

T1 - Going the distance

T2 - Mapping host galaxies of LIGO and Virgo sources in three dimensions using local cosmography and targeted follow-up

AU - Singer, L. P.

AU - Chen, H. -Y.

AU - Holz, D. E.

AU - Farr, W. M.

AU - Price, L. R.

AU - Raymond, V.

AU - Cenko, S. B.

AU - Gehrels, N.

AU - Cannizzo, J.

AU - Kasliwal, M. M.

AU - Nissanke, S.

AU - Coughlin, M.

AU - Farr, B.

AU - Urban, Alex L.

AU - Vitale, S.

AU - Veitch, J.

AU - Graff, P.

AU - Berry, C. P. L.

AU - Mohapatra, S.

AU - Mandel, I.

N1 - For supplementary material, see https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.04242 For associated data release, see http://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/Leo.Singer/going-the-distance

PY - 2016/9/21

Y1 - 2016/9/21

N2 - The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) discovered gravitational waves (GWs) from a binary black hole merger in 2015 September and may soon observe signals from neutron star mergers. There is considerable interest in searching for their faint and rapidly fading electromagnetic (EM) counterparts, though GW position uncertainties are as coarse as hundreds of square degrees. Because LIGO's sensitivity to binary neutron stars is limited to the local universe, the area on the sky that must be searched could be reduced by weighting positions by mass, luminosity, or star formation in nearby galaxies. Since GW observations provide information about luminosity distance, combining the reconstructed volume with positions and redshifts of galaxies could reduce the area even more dramatically. A key missing ingredient has been a rapid GW parameter estimation algorithm that reconstructs the full distribution of sky location and distance. We demonstrate the first such algorithm, which takes under a minute, fast enough to enable immediate EM follow-up. By combining the three-dimensional posterior with a galaxy catalog, we can reduce the number of galaxies that could conceivably host the event by a factor of 1.4, the total exposure time for the Swift X-ray Telescope by a factor of 2, the total exposure time for a synoptic optical survey by a factor of 2, and the total exposure time for a narrow-field optical telescope by a factor of 3. This encourages us to suggest a new role for small field of view optical instruments in performing targeted searches of the most massive galaxies within the reconstructed volumes.

AB - The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) discovered gravitational waves (GWs) from a binary black hole merger in 2015 September and may soon observe signals from neutron star mergers. There is considerable interest in searching for their faint and rapidly fading electromagnetic (EM) counterparts, though GW position uncertainties are as coarse as hundreds of square degrees. Because LIGO's sensitivity to binary neutron stars is limited to the local universe, the area on the sky that must be searched could be reduced by weighting positions by mass, luminosity, or star formation in nearby galaxies. Since GW observations provide information about luminosity distance, combining the reconstructed volume with positions and redshifts of galaxies could reduce the area even more dramatically. A key missing ingredient has been a rapid GW parameter estimation algorithm that reconstructs the full distribution of sky location and distance. We demonstrate the first such algorithm, which takes under a minute, fast enough to enable immediate EM follow-up. By combining the three-dimensional posterior with a galaxy catalog, we can reduce the number of galaxies that could conceivably host the event by a factor of 1.4, the total exposure time for the Swift X-ray Telescope by a factor of 2, the total exposure time for a synoptic optical survey by a factor of 2, and the total exposure time for a narrow-field optical telescope by a factor of 3. This encourages us to suggest a new role for small field of view optical instruments in performing targeted searches of the most massive galaxies within the reconstructed volumes.

KW - catalogs

KW - – galaxies: distances and redshifts

KW - gravitational waves

KW - surveys

U2 - 10.3847/2041-8205/829/1/L15

DO - 10.3847/2041-8205/829/1/L15

M3 - Article

SN - 2041-8205

VL - 829

JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters

JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters

IS - 1

ER -

Going the distance: Mapping host galaxies of LIGO and Virgo sources in three dimensions using local cosmography and targeted follow-up

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Projects

Ernest Rutherford Fellowship : Dr John Veitch - Surveying black holes and neutron stars with gravitational waves

Birmingham Astrophysics : Consolidated Grant 2013-2016

UK Involvement in the Operations of Advanced LIGO

Cite this