The LIGO HET Response (LIGHETR) Project to Discover and Spectroscopically Follow Optical Transients Associated with Neutron Star Mergers

M. J. Bustamante-Rosell; Greg Zeimann; J. Craig Wheeler; Karl Gebhardt; Aaron Zimmerman; Chris Fryer; Oleg Korobkin; Richard Matzner; V. Ashley Villar; S. Karthik Yadavalli; Kaylee M. de Soto; Matthew Shetrone; Steven Janowiecki; Pawan Kumar; David Pooley; Benjamin P. Thomas; Hsin-Yu Chen; Lifan Wang; Jozsef Vinkó; David J. Sand; Ryan Wollaeger; Frederic V. Hessman; Kristen B. McQuinn

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ace1f3

The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2023)

The LIGO HET Response (LIGHETR) Project to Discover and Spectroscopically Follow Optical Transients Associated with Neutron Star Mergers

M. J. Bustamante-Rosell,
Greg Zeimann,
J. Craig Wheeler,
Karl Gebhardt,
Aaron Zimmerman,
Chris Fryer,
Oleg Korobkin,
Richard Matzner,
V. Ashley Villar,
S. Karthik Yadavalli,
Kaylee M. de Soto,
Matthew Shetrone,
Steven Janowiecki,
Pawan Kumar,
David Pooley,
Benjamin P. Thomas,
Hsin-Yu Chen,
Lifan Wang,
Jozsef Vinkó,
David J. Sand,
Ryan Wollaeger,
Frederic V. Hessman,
Kristen B. McQuinn

Affiliations

M. J. Bustamante-Rosell: ORCiD; Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]; Department of Astronomy, University of California , Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Greg Zeimann: ORCiD; Hobby Eberly Telescope, University of Texas , Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
J. Craig Wheeler: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
Karl Gebhardt: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
Aaron Zimmerman: ORCiD; Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
Chris Fryer: ORCiD; Los Alamos National Laboratory , Los Alamos, NM, USA
Oleg Korobkin: ORCiD; Los Alamos National Laboratory , Los Alamos, NM, USA
Richard Matzner: ORCiD; Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
V. Ashley Villar: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Penn State University , College Park, PA, USA
S. Karthik Yadavalli: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Penn State University , College Park, PA, USA
Kaylee M. de Soto: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Penn State University , College Park, PA, USA
Matthew Shetrone: ORCiD; University of California Observatories , Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
Steven Janowiecki: ORCiD; McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
Pawan Kumar: Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
David Pooley: ORCiD; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Trinity University , San Antonio, TX, USA; Eureka Scientific, Inc. , USA
Benjamin P. Thomas: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
Hsin-Yu Chen: ORCiD; Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
Lifan Wang: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX, USA
Jozsef Vinkó: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA; Konkoly Observatory, Budapest, Hungary; Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics, University of Szeged , Hungary
David J. Sand: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ, USA
Ryan Wollaeger: ORCiD; Los Alamos National Laboratory , Los Alamos, NM, USA
Frederic V. Hessman: ORCiD; Institut für Astrophysik und Geophysik, University of Göttingen , Germany
Kristen B. McQuinn: ORCiD; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University , Piscataway, NJ, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ace1f3
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 954, no. 1
p. 102

Abstract

Read online

The LIGO HET Response (LIGHETR) project is an enterprise to follow up optical transients (OTs) discovered as gravitational-wave merger sources by the LIGO/Virgo collaboration (LVC). Early spectroscopy has the potential to constrain crucial parameters such as the aspect angle. The LIGHETR collaboration also includes the capacity to model the spectroscopic evolution of mergers to facilitate a real-time direct comparison of models with our data. The principal facility is the Hobby–Eberly Telescope. LIGHETR uses the massively replicated VIRUS array of spectrographs to search for associated OTs and obtain early blue spectra, and in a complementary role, the low-resolution LRS2 spectrograph is used to obtain spectra of viable candidates as well as a densely sampled series of spectra of true counterparts. Once an OT is identified, the anticipated cadence of spectra would match or considerably exceed anything achieved for GW170817 = AT2017gfo for which there were no spectra in the first 12 hr and thereafter only roughly once daily. We describe special HET-specific software written to facilitate the program and attempts to determine the flux limits to undetected sources. We also describe our campaign to follow up OT candidates during the third observational campaign of the LIGO and Virgo Scientific Collaborations. We obtained VIRUS spectroscopy of candidate galaxy hosts for five LVC gravitational-wave events and LRS2 spectra of one candidate for the OT associated with S190901ap. We identified that candidate, ZTF19abvionh = AT2019pip, as a possible Wolf–Rayet star in an otherwise unrecognized nearby dwarf galaxy.

Gravitational wave astronomy

Published in The Astrophysical Journal

ISSN: 1538-4357 (Online)
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science: Astronomy: Astrophysics
Website: https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0004-637X

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords