Swope Supernova Survey 2017a (SSS17a), the Optical Counterpart to a
  Gravitational Wave Source

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Abstract

On 2017 August 17, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Virgo interferometer detected gravitational waves emanating from a binary neutron star merger, GW170817. Nearly simultaneously, the Fermi and INTEGRAL telescopes detected a gamma-ray transient, GRB 170817A. 10.9 hours after the gravitational wave trigger, we discovered a transient and fading optical source, Swope Supernova Survey 2017a (SSS17a), coincident with GW170817. SSS17a is located in NGC 4993, an S0 galaxy at a distance of 40 megaparsecs. The precise location of GW170817 provides an opportunity to probe the nature of these cataclysmic events by combining electromagnetic and gravitational-wave observations.

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Most cited references 40

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Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger

the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration (2016)

On September 14, 2015 at 09:50:45 UTC the two detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory simultaneously observed a transient gravitational-wave signal. The signal sweeps upwards in frequency from 35 to 250 Hz with a peak gravitational-wave strain of

$1.0 \times 10^{-21}$ . It matches the waveform predicted by general relativity for the inspiral and merger of a pair of black holes and the ringdown of the resulting single black hole. The signal was observed with a matched-filter signal-to-noise ratio of 24 and a false alarm rate estimated to be less than 1 event per 203 000 years, equivalent to a significance greater than 5.1 {\sigma}. The source lies at a luminosity distance of

$410^{+160}_{-180}$ Mpc corresponding to a redshift

$z = 0.09^{+0.03}_{-0.04}$ . In the source frame, the initial black hole masses are

$36^{+5}_{-4} M_\odot$ and

$29^{+4}_{-4} M_\odot$ , and the final black hole mass is

$62^{+4}_{-4} M_\odot$ , with

$3.0^{+0.5}_{-0.5} M_\odot c^2$ radiated in gravitational waves. All uncertainties define 90% credible intervals.These observations demonstrate the existence of binary stellar-mass black hole systems. This is the first direct detection of gravitational waves and the first observation of a binary black hole merger.

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GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence

the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration (2016)

We report the observation of a gravitational-wave signal produced by the coalescence of two stellar-mass black holes. The signal, GW151226, was observed by the twin detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) on December 26, 2015 at 03:38:53 UTC. The signal was initially identified within 70 s by an online matched-filter search targeting binary coalescences. Subsequent off-line analyses recovered GW151226 with a network signal-to-noise ratio of 13 and a significance greater than 5

$\sigma$ . The signal persisted in the LIGO frequency band for approximately 1 s, increasing in frequency and amplitude over about 55 cycles from 35 to 450 Hz, and reached a peak gravitational strain of

$3.4_{-0.9}^{+0.7} \times 10^{-22}$ . The inferred source-frame initial black hole masses are

$14.2_{-3.7}^{+8.3} M_{\odot}$ and

$7.5_{-2.3}^{+2.3} M_{\odot}$ and the final black hole mass is

$20.8_{-1.7}^{+6.1} M_{\odot}$ . We find that at least one of the component black holes has spin greater than 0.2. This source is located at a luminosity distance of

$440_{-190}^{+180}$ Mpc corresponding to a redshift

$0.09_{-0.04}^{+0.03}$ . All uncertainties define a 90 % credible interval. This second gravitational-wave observation provides improved constraints on stellar populations and on deviations from general relativity.

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[CLC][ITAL]r[/ITAL][/CLC]-Process in Neutron Star Mergers

C Freiburghaus, S. Rosswog, F.-K. Thielemann (1999)

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Author and article information

Journal

Publication date Created: 16 October 2017

Article

DOI: 10.1126/science.aap9811

ArXiV ID: 1710.05452

SO-VID: 4878291e-4f1c-495a-88c3-ebb57f8a7d88

License:

http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/

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Comments 25 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables, published today in Science

Categories astro-ph.HE

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