TY - JOUR
T1 - A SEARCH for AN OPTICAL COUNTERPART to the GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE EVENT GW151226
AU - Smartt, S.J.
AU - Chambers, K.C.
AU - Smith, K.W.
AU - Huber, M.E.
AU - Young, D.R.
AU - Chen, T.-W.
AU - Inserra, C.
AU - Wright, D.E.
AU - Coughlin, M.
AU - Denneau, L.
AU - Flewelling, H.
AU - Heinze, A.
AU - Jerkstrand, A.
AU - Magnier, E.A.
AU - Maguire, K.
AU - Mueller, B.
AU - Rest, A.
AU - Sherstyuk, A.
AU - Stalder, B.
AU - Schultz, A.S.B.
AU - Stubbs, C.W.
AU - Tonry, J.
AU - Waters, C.
AU - Wainscoat, R.J.
AU - Della Valle, Valle, M.
AU - Dennefeld, M.
AU - Dimitriadis, G.
AU - Firth, R.E.
AU - Fraser, M.
AU - Frohmaier, C.
AU - Gal-Yam, Avishay
AU - Harmanen, J.
AU - Kankare, E.
AU - Kotak, R.
AU - Kromer, M.
AU - Mandel, I.
AU - Sollerman, J.
AU - Gibson, B.
AU - Primak, N.
AU - Willman, M.
N1 - PS1 and ATLAS are supported by NASA grants NNX08AR22G, NNX12AR65G, NNX14AM74G, and NNX12AR55G. This work is based on data from: ESO as part of PESSTO (188.D-3003, 191.D-0935), Gemini Program GN-2016A-Q-36, GN-2015B-Q-4, the UH 2.2 m, and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope program 14484. We thank Gemini and HST for Director's Discretionary time. We acknowledge EU/FP7-ERC grants [291222,307260,320360,615929], a Weizmann-UK Making Connections Grant, a STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship (K.M.), and a Sofia Kovalevskaja Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (T.W.C.). PS1 surveys acknowledge the PS1SC: University of Hawaii, MPIA Heidelberg, MPE Garching, Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, University of Edinburgh, Queen's University Belfast, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA, LCOGT, NCU Taiwan, STScI, University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and NSF grant No. AST-1238877.
PY - 2016/8/20
Y1 - 2016/8/20
N2 - We present a search for an electromagnetic counterpart of the gravitational-wave source GW151226. Using the Pan-STARRS1 telescope we mapped out 290 square degrees in the optical i P1 filter, starting 11.5 hr after the LIGO information release and lasting for an additional 28 days. The first observations started 49.5 hr after the time of the GW151226 detection. We typically reached sensitivity limits of i P1 = 20.3-20.8 and covered 26.5% of the LIGO probability skymap. We supplemented this with ATLAS survey data, reaching 31% of the probability region to shallower depths of m ≃ 19. We found 49 extragalactic transients (that are not obviously active galactic nuclei), including a faint transient in a galaxy at 7 Mpc (a luminous blue variable outburst) plus a rapidly decaying M-dwarf flare. Spectral classification of 20 other transient events showed them all to be supernovae. We found an unusual transient, PS15dpn, with an explosion date temporally coincident with GW151226, that evolved into a type Ibn supernova. The redshift of the transient is secure at z = 0.1747 0.0001 and we find it unlikely to be linked, since the luminosity distance has a negligible probability of being consistent with that of GW151226. In the 290 square degrees surveyed we therefore do not find a likely counterpart. However we show that our survey strategy would be sensitive to NS-NS mergers producing kilonovae at D L ≲ 100 Mpc, which is promising for future LIGO/Virgo searches.
AB - We present a search for an electromagnetic counterpart of the gravitational-wave source GW151226. Using the Pan-STARRS1 telescope we mapped out 290 square degrees in the optical i P1 filter, starting 11.5 hr after the LIGO information release and lasting for an additional 28 days. The first observations started 49.5 hr after the time of the GW151226 detection. We typically reached sensitivity limits of i P1 = 20.3-20.8 and covered 26.5% of the LIGO probability skymap. We supplemented this with ATLAS survey data, reaching 31% of the probability region to shallower depths of m ≃ 19. We found 49 extragalactic transients (that are not obviously active galactic nuclei), including a faint transient in a galaxy at 7 Mpc (a luminous blue variable outburst) plus a rapidly decaying M-dwarf flare. Spectral classification of 20 other transient events showed them all to be supernovae. We found an unusual transient, PS15dpn, with an explosion date temporally coincident with GW151226, that evolved into a type Ibn supernova. The redshift of the transient is secure at z = 0.1747 0.0001 and we find it unlikely to be linked, since the luminosity distance has a negligible probability of being consistent with that of GW151226. In the 290 square degrees surveyed we therefore do not find a likely counterpart. However we show that our survey strategy would be sensitive to NS-NS mergers producing kilonovae at D L ≲ 100 Mpc, which is promising for future LIGO/Virgo searches.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84984677899&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3847/2041-8205/827/2/L40
DO - 10.3847/2041-8205/827/2/L40
M3 - مقالة
SN - 2041-8205
VL - 827
JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters
JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters
IS - 2
M1 - 40
ER -