J-GEM optical and near-infrared follow-up of gravitational wave events during LIGO's and Virgo's third observing run

Abstract

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration (LVC) sent out 56 gravitational-wave (GW) notices during the third observing run (O3). Japanese collaboration for Gravitational wave ElectroMagnetic follow-up (J-GEM) performed optical and near-infrared observations to identify and observe an electromagnetic (EM) counterpart. We constructed web-based system which enabled us to obtain and share information of candidate host galaxies for the counterpart, and status of our observations. Candidate host galaxies were selected from the GLADE catalog with a weight based on the three-dimensional GW localization map provided by LVC. We conducted galaxy-targeted and wide-field blind surveys, real-time data analysis, and visual inspection of observed galaxies. We performed galaxy-targeted follow-ups to 23 GW events during O3, and the maximum probability covered by our observations reached to 9.8%. Among them, we successfully started observations for 10 GW events within 0.5 days after the detection. This result demonstrates that our follow-up observation has a potential to constrain EM radiation models for a merger of binary neutron stars at a distance of up to $\sim$100~Mpc with a probability area of $\le$ 500~deg${}^2$.

25 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables, published at https://academic.oup.com/ptep/article/2021/5/05A104/6122445

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• GWTC-3: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the Second Part of the Third Observing Run
• GLADE+: An Extended Galaxy Catalogue for Multimessenger Searches with Advanced Gravitational-wave Detectors
• Follow-up survey for the binary black hole merger GW200224_222234 using Subaru/HSC and GTC/OSIRIS
• Inferring kilonova population properties with a hierarchical Bayesian framework I : Non-detection methodology and single-event analyses
• Searching for Gravitational-Wave Counterparts using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite