Using galaxy formation simulations to optimize LIGO follow-up observations

Elisa Antolini; Ilaria Caiazzo; Romeel Davé; Jeremy S. Heyl

doi:10.1093/mnras/stw3292

Using galaxy formation simulations to optimize LIGO follow-up observations

Elisa Antolini, Ilaria Caiazzo, Romeel Davé, Jeremy S. Heyl

Steward Observatory

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

The recent discovery of gravitational radiation from merging black holes poses a challenge of how to organize the electromagnetic follow-up of gravitational-wave events as well as observed bursts of neutrinos. We propose a technique to select the galaxies that are most likely to host the event given some assumptions of whether the particular event is associated with recent star formation, low-metallicity stars or simply proportional to the total stellar mass in the galaxy. We combine data from the 2-MASS Photometric Redshift Galaxy Catalogue with results from galaxy formation simulations to develop observing strategies that potentially reduce the area of sky to search by up to a factor of 2 relative to an unweighted search of galaxies, and a factor of 20 to a search over the entire LIGO localization region.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	2212-2216
Number of pages	5
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	466
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw3292
State	Published - Apr 1 2017

Keywords

Galaxies: distances
Gravitational waves
Methods: observational
Redshifts

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1093/mnras/stw3292

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title = "Using galaxy formation simulations to optimize LIGO follow-up observations",

abstract = "The recent discovery of gravitational radiation from merging black holes poses a challenge of how to organize the electromagnetic follow-up of gravitational-wave events as well as observed bursts of neutrinos. We propose a technique to select the galaxies that are most likely to host the event given some assumptions of whether the particular event is associated with recent star formation, low-metallicity stars or simply proportional to the total stellar mass in the galaxy. We combine data from the 2-MASS Photometric Redshift Galaxy Catalogue with results from galaxy formation simulations to develop observing strategies that potentially reduce the area of sky to search by up to a factor of 2 relative to an unweighted search of galaxies, and a factor of 20 to a search over the entire LIGO localization region.",

keywords = "Galaxies: distances, Gravitational waves, Methods: observational, Redshifts",

author = "Elisa Antolini and Ilaria Caiazzo and Romeel Dav{\'e} and Heyl, {Jeremy S.}",

note = "Funding Information: The software and galaxy maps used in this paper are available at http://ubc-astrophysics.github.io. We used the VizieR Service, the NASA ADS service, the SuperCOSMOS Science Archive, the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive, the HEALPy libraries and arXiv.org. This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund and the Bertha and Louis Weinstein Research Fund at the University of British Columbia. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society",

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doi = "10.1093/mnras/stw3292",

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AU - Caiazzo, Ilaria

AU - Davé, Romeel

AU - Heyl, Jeremy S.

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N2 - The recent discovery of gravitational radiation from merging black holes poses a challenge of how to organize the electromagnetic follow-up of gravitational-wave events as well as observed bursts of neutrinos. We propose a technique to select the galaxies that are most likely to host the event given some assumptions of whether the particular event is associated with recent star formation, low-metallicity stars or simply proportional to the total stellar mass in the galaxy. We combine data from the 2-MASS Photometric Redshift Galaxy Catalogue with results from galaxy formation simulations to develop observing strategies that potentially reduce the area of sky to search by up to a factor of 2 relative to an unweighted search of galaxies, and a factor of 20 to a search over the entire LIGO localization region.

AB - The recent discovery of gravitational radiation from merging black holes poses a challenge of how to organize the electromagnetic follow-up of gravitational-wave events as well as observed bursts of neutrinos. We propose a technique to select the galaxies that are most likely to host the event given some assumptions of whether the particular event is associated with recent star formation, low-metallicity stars or simply proportional to the total stellar mass in the galaxy. We combine data from the 2-MASS Photometric Redshift Galaxy Catalogue with results from galaxy formation simulations to develop observing strategies that potentially reduce the area of sky to search by up to a factor of 2 relative to an unweighted search of galaxies, and a factor of 20 to a search over the entire LIGO localization region.

KW - Galaxies: distances

KW - Gravitational waves

KW - Methods: observational

KW - Redshifts

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Using galaxy formation simulations to optimize LIGO follow-up observations

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Keywords

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