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We present Searches After Gravitational-waves Using ARizona Observatories (SAGUARO), a comprehensive effort dedicated to the discovery and characterization of optical counterparts to gravitational wave (GW) events. SAGUARO utilizes ground-based facilities ranging from 1.5m to 10m in diameter, located primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. We provide an overview of SAGUAROs telescopic resources, pipeline for transient detection, and database for candidate visualization. We describe SAGUAROs discovery component, which utilizes the $5$~deg$^2$ field-of-view optical imager on the Mt. Lemmon 1.5m telescope, reaching limits of $approx 21.3$~AB mag while rapidly tiling large areas. We also describe the follow-up component of SAGUARO, used for rapid vetting and monitoring of optical candidates. With the onset of Advanced LIGO/Virgos third observing run, we present results from the first three SAGUARO searches following the GW events S190408an, S190425z and S190426c, which serve as a valuable proof-of-concept of SAGUARO. We triggered and searched 15, 60 and 60 deg$^{2}$ respectively, 17.6, 1.4 and 41.8 hrs after the initial GW alerts. We covered 7.8, 3.0 and 5.1% of the total probability within the GW event localizations, reaching 3$sigma$ limits of 19.8, 21.3 and 20.8 AB mag, respectively. Although no viable counterparts associated with these events were found, we recovered 6 known transients and ruled out 5 potential candidates. We also present Large Binocular Telescope spectroscopy of PS19eq/SN2019ebq, a promising kilonova candidate that was later determined to be a supernova. With the ability to tile large areas and conduct detailed follow-up, SAGUARO represents a significant addition to GW counterpart searches.
With the conclusion of the third observing run for Advanced LIGO/Virgo (O3), we present a detailed analysis of both triggered and serendipitous observations of 17 gravitational wave (GW) events (7 triggered and 10 purely serendipitous) from the Searches After Gravitational-waves Using ARizona Observatories (SAGUARO) program. We searched a total of 4935 deg$^2$ down to a median 5$sigma$ transient detection depth of 21.1 AB mag using the Mt Lemmon 1.5 m telescope, the discovery engine for SAGUARO. In addition to triggered events within 24~hours, our transient search encompassed a time interval following GW events of $<120$~hrs, providing observations on $sim$ 1/2 of the events accessible to the Mt Lemmon 1.5 m telescope. We covered 2.1--86% of the LVC total probability ($P_{rm total}$) for individual events, with a median $P_{rm total} approx 8%$ within $<120$~hours. Following improvements to our pipeline and the addition of serendipitous observations, we find a total of 7 new optical candidates across 5 GW events which we are unable to rule out after searching for additional information and comparing to kilonova models. Using both publicly available and our own late-time data, we investigated a total of 252 optical candidates for these 17 events, finding only 65% were followed up in some capacity by the community. Of the total 252 candidates, we are able to rule out an additional 12 previously reported counterpart candidates. In light of these results, we discuss lessons learned from the SAGUARO GW counterpart search. We discuss how community coordination of observations and candidate follow-up, as well as the role of archival data, are crucial to improving the efficiency of follow-up efforts and preventing unnecessary duplication of effort with limited EM resources.
We present the Global Rapid Advanced Network Devoted to the Multi-messenger Addicts (GRANDMA). The network consists of 21 telescopes with both photometric and spectroscopic facilities. They are connected together thanks to a dedicated infrastructure. The network aims at coordinating the observations of large sky position estimates of transient events to enhance their follow-up and reduce the delay between the initial detection and the optical confirmation. The GRANDMA program mainly focuses on follow-up of gravitational-wave alerts to find and characterise the electromagnetic counterpart during the third observational campaign of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. But it allows for any follow-up of transient alerts involving neutrinos or gamma-ray bursts, even with poor spatial localisation. We present the different facilities, tools, and methods we developed for this network, and show its efficiency using observations of LIGO/Virgo S190425z, a binary neutron star merger candidate. We furthermore report on all GRANDMA follow-up observations performed during the first six months of the LIGO-Virgo observational campaign, and we derive constraints on the kilonova properties assuming that the events locations were imaged by our telescopes.
We present results of three wide-band directed searches for continuous gravitational waves from 15 young supernova remnants in the first half of the third Advanced LIGO and Virgo observing run. We use three search pipelines with distinct signal models and methods of identifying noise artifacts. Without ephemerides of these sources, the searches are conducted over a frequency band spanning from 10~Hz to 2~kHz. We find no evidence of continuous gravitational radiation from these sources. We set upper limits on the intrinsic signal strain at 95% confidence level in sample sub-bands, estimate the sensitivity in the full band, and derive the corresponding constraints on the fiducial neutron star ellipticity and $r$-mode amplitude. The best 95% confidence constraints placed on the signal strain are $7.7times 10^{-26}$ and $7.8times 10^{-26}$ near 200~Hz for the supernova remnants G39.2--0.3 and G65.7+1.2, respectively. The most stringent constraints on the ellipticity and $r$-mode amplitude reach $lesssim 10^{-7}$ and $ lesssim 10^{-5}$, respectively, at frequencies above $sim 400$~Hz for the closest supernova remnant G266.2--1.2/Vela Jr.
We report results of a search for an isotropic gravitational-wave background (GWB) using data from Advanced LIGOs and Advanced Virgos third observing run (O3) combined with upper limits from the earlier O1 and O2 runs. Unlike in previous observing runs in the advanced detector era, we include Virgo in the search for the GWB. The results are consistent with uncorrelated noise, and therefore we place upper limits on the strength of the GWB. We find that the dimensionless energy density $Omega_{rm GW}leq 5.8times 10^{-9}$ at the 95% credible level for a flat (frequency-independent) GWB, using a prior which is uniform in the log of the strength of the GWB, with 99% of the sensitivity coming from the band 20-76.6 Hz; $leq 3.4 times 10^{-9}$ at 25 Hz for a power-law GWB with a spectral index of 2/3 (consistent with expectations for compact binary coalescences), in the band 20-90.6 Hz; and $leq 3.9 times 10^{-10}$ at 25 Hz for a spectral index of 3, in the band 20-291.6 Hz. These upper limits improve over our previous results by a factor of 6.0 for a flat GWB. We also search for a GWB arising from scalar and vector modes, which are predicted by alternative theories of gravity; we place upper limits on the strength of GWBs with these polarizations. We demonstrate that there is no evidence of correlated noise of magnetic origin by performing a Bayesian analysis that allows for the presence of both a GWB and an effective magnetic background arising from geophysical Schumann resonances. We compare our upper limits to a fiducial model for the GWB from the merger of compact binaries. Finally, we combine our results with observations of individual mergers andshow that, at design sensitivity, this joint approach may yield stronger constraints on the merger rate of binary black holes at $z lesssim 2$ than can be achieved with individually resolved mergers alone. [abridged]
The speed of gravitational waves for a single observation can be measured by the time delay among gravitational-wave detectors with Bayesian inference. Then multiple measurements can be combined to produce a more accurate result. From the near simultaneous detection of gravitational waves and gamma rays originating from GW170817/GRB 170817A, the speed of gravitational wave signal was found to be the same as the the speed of the gamma rays to approximately one part in $10^{15}$. Here we present a different method of measuring the speed of gravitational waves, not based on an associated electromagnetic signal but instead by the measured transit time across a geographically separated network of detectors. While this method is far less precise, it provides an independent measurement of the speed of gravitational waves. For GW170817 a binary neutron star inspiral observed by Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo, by fixing sky localization of the source at the electromagnetic counterpart the speed of gravitational waves is constrained to 90% confidence interval (0.97c, 1.02c), where c is the speed of light in a vacuum. By combing seven BBH events and the BNS event from the second observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo, the 90% confidence interval is narrowed down to (0.97c, 1.01c). The accurate measurement of the speed of gravitational waves allows us to test the general theory of relativity. We further interpret these results within the test framework provided by the gravitational Standard-Model Extension (SME). In doing so, we obtain simultaneous constraints on 4 of the 9 nonbirefringent, nondispersive coefficients for Lorentz violation in the gravity sector of the SME and place limits on the anisotropy of the speed of gravity.