| Title: |
Designing an Optimal Kilonova Search Using DECam for Gravitational-wave Events |
| Authors: |
Bom, CR; Annis, J; Garcia, A; Palmese, A; Sherman, N; Soares-Santos, M; Santana-Silva, L; Morgan, R; Bechtol, K; Davis, T; Diehl, HT; Allam, SS; Bachmann, TG; Fraga, BMO; García-Bellido, J; Gill, MSS; Herner, K; Kilpatrick, CD; Makler, M; Olivares E., F; Pereira, MES; Pineda, J; Santos, A; Tucker, DL; Wiesner, MP; Aguena, M; Alves, O; Bacon, D; Bernardinelli, PH; Bertin, E; Bocquet, S; Brooks, D; Carrasco Kind, M; Carretero, J; Conselice, C; Costanzi, M; da Costa, LN; De Vicente, J; Desai, S; Doel, P; Everett, S; Ferrero, I; Frieman, J; Gatti, M; Gerdes, DW; Gruen, D; Gruendl, RA; Gutierrez, G; Hinton, SR; Hollowood, DL; Honscheid, K; James, DJ; Kuehn, K; Kuropatkin, N; Melchior, P; Mena-Fernández, J; Menanteau, F; Pieres, A; Plazas Malagón, AA; Raveri, M; Rodriguez-Monroy, M; Sanchez, E; Santiago, B; Sevilla-Noarbe, I; Smith, M; Suchyta, E; Swanson, MEC; Tarle, G; To, C; Weaverdyck, N |
| Source: |
Astrophysical Journal , 960 (2) , Article 122. (2024) |
| Publisher Information: |
American Astronomical Society |
| Publication Year: |
2024 |
| Collection: |
University College London: UCL Discovery |
| Description: |
We address the problem of optimally identifying all kilonovae detected via gravitational-wave emission in the upcoming LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA observing run, O4, which is expected to be sensitive to a factor of ∼7 more binary neutron star (BNS) alerts than previously. Electromagnetic follow-up of all but the brightest of these new events will require >1 m telescopes, for which limited time is available. We present an optimized observing strategy for the DECam during O4. We base our study on simulations of gravitational-wave events expected for O4 and wide-prior kilonova simulations. We derive the detectabilities of events for realistic observing conditions. We optimize our strategy for confirming a kilonova while minimizing telescope time. For a wide range of kilonova parameters, corresponding to a fainter kilonova compared to GW170817/AT 2017gfo, we find that, with this optimal strategy, the discovery probability for electromagnetic counterparts with the DECam is ∼80% at the nominal BNS gravitational-wave detection limit for O4 (190 Mpc), which corresponds to an ∼30% improvement compared to the strategy adopted during the previous observing run. For more distant events (∼330 Mpc), we reach an ∼60% probability of detection, a factor of ∼2 increase. For a brighter kilonova model dominated by the blue component that reproduces the observations of GW170817/AT 2017gfo, we find that we can reach ∼90% probability of detection out to 330 Mpc, representing an increase of ∼20%, while also reducing the total telescope time required to follow up events by ∼20%. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
application/pdf |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10186740/1/Bom_2024_ApJ_960_122.pdf; https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10186740/ |
| Availability: |
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10186740/1/Bom_2024_ApJ_960_122.pdf; https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10186740/ |
| Rights: |
open |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.E1B9A392 |
| Database: |
BASE |