Prospects of Gravitational Wave Follow-up Through a Wide-field Ultra-violet Satellite: a Dorado Case Study
arXiv:2206.09696 · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acaa9e
Abstract
The detection of gravitational waves from binary neuron star merger GW170817 and electromagnetic counterparts GRB170817 and AT2017gfo kick-started the field of gravitational wave multimessenger astronomy. The optically red to near infra-red emission (`red' component) of AT2017gfo was readily explained as produced by the decay of newly created nuclei produced by rapid neutron capture (a kilonova). However, the ultra-violet to optically blue emission (`blue' component) that was dominant at early times (up to 1.5 days) received no consensus regarding its driving physics. Among many explanations, two leading contenders are kilonova radiation from a lanthanide-poor ejecta component or shock interaction (cocoon emission). In this work, we simulate AT2017gfo-like light curves and perform a Bayesian analysis to study whether an ultra-violet satellite capable of rapid gravitational wave follow-up, could distinguish between physical processes driving the early `blue' component. We find that a Dorado-like ultra-violet satellite, with a 50 sq. deg. field of view and a limiting magnitude (AB) of 20.5 for a 10 minute exposure is able to distinguish radiation components up to at least 160 Mpc if data collection starts within 3.2 or 5.2 hours for two possible AT2017gfo-like light curve scenarios. We also study the degree to which parameters can be constrained with the obtained photometry. We find that, while ultra-violet data alone constrains parameters governing the outer ejecta properties, the combination of both ground-based optical and space-based ultra-violet data allows for tight constraints for all but one parameter of the kilonova model up to 160 Mpc. These results imply that an ultra-violet mission like Dorado would provide unique insights into the early evolution of the post-merger system and its driving emission physics.
13 pages, 2 tables, 7 figures. Comments welcome. To be submitted to ApJ
References in corpus (40)
- SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
- The NumPy array: a structure for efficient numerical computation
- GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
- Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger
- Gravitational Waves and Gamma-rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A
- An Ordinary Short Gamma-Ray Burst with Extraordinary Implications: Fermi-GBM Detection of GRB 170817A
- Origin of the heavy elements in binary neutron-star mergers from a gravitational wave event
- Swope Supernova Survey 2017a (SSS17a), the Optical Counterpart to a Gravitational Wave Source
- The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/VIRGO GW170817. II. UV, Optical, and Near-IR Light Curves and Comparison to Kilonova Models
- INTEGRAL Detection of the First Prompt Gamma-Ray Signal Coincident with the Gravitational Wave Event GW170817
- Light Curves of the Neutron Star Merger GW170817/SSS17a: Implications for R-Process Nucleosynthesis
- Illuminating Gravitational Waves: A Concordant Picture of Photons from a Neutron Star Merger
- The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. I. Dark Energy Camera Discovery of the Optical Counterpart
- The Combined Ultraviolet, Optical, and Near-Infrared Light Curves of the Kilonova Associated with the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817: Unified Data Set, Analytic Models, and Physical Implications
- Swift and NuSTAR observations of GW170817: detection of a blue kilonova
- The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/VIRGO GW170817. IV. Detection of Near-infrared Signatures of r-process Nucleosynthesis with Gemini-South
- The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/VIRGO GW170817. III. Optical and UV Spectra of a Blue Kilonova From Fast Polar Ejecta
- Modeling GW170817 based on numerical relativity and its implications
- The discovery of the electromagnetic counterpart of GW170817: kilonova AT 2017gfo/DLT17ck
- Kilonova from post-merger ejecta as an optical and near-infrared counterpart of GW170817
- MASTER optical detection of the first LIGO/Virgo neutron stars merging GW170817
- The Observable Signatures of GRB Cocoons
- Neutron-powered precursors of kilonovae
- The Rapid Reddening and Featureless Optical Spectra of the optical counterpart of GW170817, AT 2017gfo, During the First Four Days
- Numerical Relativity Simulations of the Neutron Star Merger GW170817: Long-Term Remnant Evolutions, Winds, Remnant Disks, and Nucleosynthesis
- The electromagnetic counterparts of compact binary mergers
- Data-driven expectations for electromagnetic counterpart searches based on LIGO/Virgo public alerts
- Optical Follow-up of Gravitational-wave Events with Las Cumbres Observatory
- Radioactive heating rate of r-process elements and macronova light curve
- Simulations of early kilonova emission from neutron star mergers
- Kilonova Detectability with Wide-Field Instruments
- A brief overview of black hole-neutron star mergers
- Comparing inclination dependent analyses of kilonova transients
- Opacity of the highly ionized lanthanides and the effect on the early kilonova
- Late time kilonova light curves and implications to GW 170817
- The Effect of Jet-Ejecta Interaction on the Viewing Angle Dependence of Kilonova Light Curves
- Constraint on the ejecta mass for a black hole-neutron star merger event candidate S190814bv
- Electromagnetic signals from the decay of free neutrons in the first hours of neutron star mergers
- Design of the ULTRASAT UV camera
- A Broad Grid of 2D Kilonova Emission Models