Eyles-Ferris, RAJ;
Evans, PA;
Breeveld, AA;
Cenko, SB;
Dichiara, S;
Kennea, JA;
Klingler, NJ;
... Troja, E; + view all
(2025)
Panning for gold with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory: an optimal strategy for finding the counterparts to gravitational wave events.
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
, 536
(3)
pp. 2857-2872.
10.1093/mnras/stae2785.
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Abstract
The LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA (LVK) gravitational wave observatories are currently undertaking their O4 observing run offering the opportunity to discover new electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave events. We examine the capability of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (Swift) to respond to these triggers, primarily binary neutron star mergers, with both the UV/Optical Telescope (UVOT) and the X-ray Telescope (XRT). We simulate Swift’s response to a trigger under different strategies using model skymaps, convolving these with the 2MPZ catalogue to produce an ordered list of observing fields, deriving the time taken for Swift to reach the correct field and simulating the instrumental responses to modelled kilonovae and short gamma-ray burst afterglows. We find that UVOT, using the u filter with an exposure time of order 120 s, is optimal for most follow-up observations and that we are likely to detect counterparts in ∼ 6 per cent of all binary neutron star triggers detectable by LVK in O4. We find that the gravitational wave 90 per cent error area and measured distance to the trigger allow us to select optimal triggers to follow-up. Focussing on sources less than 300 Mpc away, or 500 Mpc if the error area is less than a few hundred square degrees, distances greater than previously assumed, offer the best opportunity for discovery by Swift with ∼ 5–30 per cent of triggers having detection probabilities ≥ 0.5. At even greater distances, we can further optimise our follow-up by adopting a longer 250 s or 500 s exposure time.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Panning for gold with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory: an optimal strategy for finding the counterparts to gravitational wave events |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1093/mnras/stae2785 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae2785 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | Gravitational waves, methods: observational, gamma-ray bursts, neutron star mergers |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10203156 |
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