Detectability of kilonovae in optical surveys: $post$-$mortem$ examination of the LVC O3 run follow-up

Abstract

The detection of the binary neutron star merger GW170817 and the associated electromagnetic (EM) counterpart, the "kilonova" (kN) AT2017gfo, opened a new era in multi-messenger astronomy. However, despite many efforts, it has been proven very difficult to find additional EM counterparts to the many LIGO/Virgo compact binary merger candidates since then. We explore the sensitivity of ongoing optical surveys searching for kNe and propose ways to optimize the choices of filters and survey depth to boost the detection efficiency for these faint and fast-evolving transients. In particular, we use kN models to explore the dependence on ejecta mass, geometry, viewing angle, wavelength coverage and source distance. Considering that the O3 LIGO/Virgo binary neutron star merger candidates were at distances about 5 times further than GW170817, we find that efficient $gri$ counterpart search would require reaching a limiting magnitude $m_{\lim }=$ 23 mag, given the model phase-space. We conclude that kN searches during O3 were generally too shallow to observe optical counterparts, even under optimistic assumptions, thus providing a plausible explanation for the lack of detections.

11 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, Published in MNRAS

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Cited by in corpus (21)

• GWTC-3: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the Second Part of the Third Observing Run
• Searching for Electromagnetic Counterparts to Gravitational-wave Merger Events with the Prototype Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO-4)
• Multi-messenger observations of binary neutron star mergers in the O4 run
• Kilonova Emission From Black Hole-Neutron Star Mergers. II. Luminosity Function and Implications for Target-of-opportunity Observations of Gravitational-wave Triggers and Blind Searches
• Implications of the search for optical counterparts during the second part of the Advanced LIGO's and Advanced Virgo's third observing run: lessons learned for future follow-up observations
• Target of Opportunity Observations of Gravitational Wave Events with Vera C. Rubin Observatory
• No Detectable Kilonova Counterpart is Expected for O3 Neutron Star-Black Hole Candidates
• Constraining the Kilonova Rate with Zwicky Transient Facility Searches Independent of Gravitational Wave and Short Gamma-ray Burst Triggers
• Long-duration Gamma-ray Burst and Associated Kilonova Emission from Fast-spinning Black Hole--Neutron Star Mergers
• DDOTI Observations of Gravitational-Wave Sources Discovered in O3
• Optimizing Serendipitous Detections of Kilonovae: Cadence and Filter Selection
• Optimizing Cadences with Realistic Light Curve Filtering for Serendipitous Kilonova Discovery with Vera Rubin Observatory
• Modelling Populations of Kilonovae
• Kilonova and Optical Afterglow from Binary Neutron Star Mergers. II. Optimal Search Strategy for Serendipitous Observations and Target-of-opportunity Observations of Gravitational-wave Triggers
• Detectability of "Merger-nova" emission from a long-lived magnetar in short gamma-ray bursts
• The detection efficiency of type Ia supernovae from the Zwicky Transient Facility: Limits on the intrinsic rate of early flux excesses
• Inferring kilonova population properties with a hierarchical Bayesian framework I : Non-detection methodology and single-event analyses
• Kilonova-Targeting Lightcurve Classification for Wide Field Survey Telescope
• Kilonova Light Curve Parameter Estimation Using Likelihood-Free Inference
• Light curves and polarizations of gravitationally lensed kilonovae
• A DESGW Search for the Electromagnetic Counterpart to the LIGO/Virgo Gravitational Wave Binary Neutron Star Merger Candidate S190510g