A Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor Search for Electromagnetic Signals Coincident with Gravitational-Wave Candidates in Advanced LIGOs First Observing Run

We present a search for prompt gamma-ray counterparts to compact binary coalescence gravitational wave (GW)candidates from Advanced LIGO's first observing run (O1). As demonstrated by the multimessenger observations ofGW170817/GRB 170817A, electromagnetic and GW observations provide complementa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2019-01, Vol.871 (90)
Main Authors: Burns, E., Goldstein, A., Hui, C. M., Blackburn, L., Briggs, M. S., Connaughton, V., Hamburg, R., Kocevski, D., Veres, P., Wilson-Hodge, C. A., Bissaldi, E., Cleveland, W. H., Giles, M. M., Mailyan, B., Meegan, C. A., Paciesas, W. A., Poolakkil, S., Preece, R. D., Racusin, J. L., Roberts, O. J., von Kienlin, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Astrophysics
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Summary:We present a search for prompt gamma-ray counterparts to compact binary coalescence gravitational wave (GW)candidates from Advanced LIGO's first observing run (O1). As demonstrated by the multimessenger observations ofGW170817/GRB 170817A, electromagnetic and GW observations provide complementary information about theastrophysical source, and in the case of weaker candidates, may strengthen the case for an astrophysical origin. Here weinvestigate low-significance GWcandidates from the O1 compact binary coalescence searches using the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor (GBM), leveraging its all sky and broad energy coverage. Candidates are ranked and compared tobackground to measure the significance. Those with false alarm rates (FARs) of less than 105 Hz (about one per day,yielding a total of 81 candidates) are used as the search sample for gamma-ray follow-up. No GW candidates werefound to be coincident with gamma-ray transients independently identified by blind searches of the GBM data. Inaddition, GW candidate event times were followed up by a separate targeted search of GBM data. Among the resultingGBM events, the two with the lowest FARs were the gamma-ray transient GW150914-GBM presented in Connaughtonet al. and a solar flare in chance coincidence with a GW candidate.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357