Y. M. Hu

Maximising the detection probability of kilonovae associated with gravitational wave observations

Estimates of the source sky location for gravitational wave signals are likely span areas ranging up to hundreds of square degrees or more, making it very challenging for most telescopes to search for counterpart signals in the electromagnetic spectrum. To boost the chance of successfully observing such counterparts, we have developed an algorithm which optimizes the number of observing fields and their corresponding time allocations by maximizing the detection probability. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, we optimize follow-up observations targeting kilonovae using telescopes including CTIO-Dark Energy Camera, Subaru-HyperSuprimeCam, Pan-STARRS and Palomar Transient Factory. We consider three simulated gravitational wave events with 90% credible error regions spanning areas from ~30 deg^2 to ~300 deg^2. Assuming a source at 200 Mpc, we demonstrate that to obtain a maximum detection probability, there is an optimized number of fields for any particular event that a telescope should observe. To inform future telescope design studies, we present the maximum detection probability and corresponding number of observing fields for a combination of limiting magnitudes and fields-of-view over a range of parameters. We show that for large gravitational wave error regions, telescope sensitivity rather than field-of-view, is the dominating factor in maximizing the detection probability.

Neutron Star–Black Hole Coalescence Rate Inferred from Macronova Observations

Neutron star

Systematic errors in estimation of gravitational-wave candidate significance

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Optimizing searches for electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave triggers

black hole (NS

Gravitational waves induced by the asymmetric jets of gamma-ray bursts

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GLITCH OR ANTI-GLITCH: A BAYESIAN VIEW

BH) coalescences are widely believed to be promising gravitational wave sources in the era of advanced detectors of LIGO/Virgo but such binaries have never been directly detected yet. Evidence for NS

Global optimization for future gravitational wave detector sites

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Efficient Exploration of Multi-Modal Posterior Distributions

BH coalescences have been suggested in short and hybrid GRB observations, which are examined critically. Based on the suggested connection between the observed macronovae/kilonovae events and NS

Anti-glitch: Transient or Permanent, a Bayesian View

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