Geographic and Annual Influences on Optical Follow-up of Gravitational Wave Events
Abstract
We investigate the effects of observatory location on the probability of discovering optical/infrared (OIR) counterparts of gravitational wave sources. We show that, for the LIGO-Virgo network, the odds of discovering OIR counterparts show some latitude dependence. A stronger effect is seen to arise from the timing of LIGO-Virgo observing runs during the year, with northern OIR observatories having a better chance of finding the counterparts in northern winters. Assuming identical technical capabilities, the tentative mid-2017 three-detector network observing run favors southern OIR observatories for the discovery of electromagnetic counterparts.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- March 2017
- DOI:
- 10.3847/1538-4357/aa62a4
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1610.07154
- Bibcode:
- 2017ApJ...838...46S
- Keywords:
-
- gravitational waves;
- methods: observational;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 14 pages, 10 figures, Submitted to ApJ