Implications for the origin of GRB 070201 from LIGO observations

Authors

B. Abbott, California Institute of Technology
R. Abbott, California Institute of Technology
R. Adhikari, California Institute of Technology
J. Agresti, California Institute of Technology
P. Ajith, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
B. Allen, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
R. Amin, Louisiana State University
S. B. Anderson, California Institute of Technology
W. G. Anderson, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
M. Arain, University of Florida
M. Araya, California Institute of Technology
H. Armandula, California Institute of Technology
M. Ashley, The Australian National University
S. Aston, University of Birmingham
P. Aufmuth, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover
C. Aulbert, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
S. Babak, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
S. Ballmer, California Institute of Technology
H. Bantilan, Carleton College, USA
B. C. Barish, California Institute of Technology
C. Barker, LIGO Hanford
D. Barker, LIGO Hanford
B. Barr, University of Glasgow
P. Barriga, The University of Western Australia
M. A. Barton, University of Glasgow
K. Bayer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
J. Betzwieser, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
P. T. Beyersdorf, San Jose State University
B. Bhawal, California Institute of Technology
I. A. Bilenko, Lomonosov Moscow State University
G. Billingsley, California Institute of Technology
R. Biswas, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
E. Black, California Institute of Technology

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-10-2008

Abstract

We analyzed the available LIGO data coincident with GRB 070201, a short-duration, hard-spectrum γ-ray burst (GRB) whose electromagnetically determined sky position is coincident with the spiral arms of the Andromeda galaxy (M31). Possible progenitors of such short, hard GRBs include mergers of neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole, or soft γ-ray repeater (SGR) flares. These events can be accompanied by gravitational-wave emission. No plausible gravitational-wave candidates were found within a 180 s long window around the time of GRB 070201. This result implies that a compact binary progenitor of GRB 070201, with masses in the range 1 Mc < m1 < 3 M⊙ and 1 M⊙ < m2 < 40 M ⊙, located in M31 is excluded at >99% confidence. If the GRB 070201 progenitor was not in M31, then we can exclude a binary neutron star merger progenitor with distance D < 3.5 Mpc, assuming random inclination, at 90% confidence. The result also implies that an unmodeled gravitational-wave burst from GRB 070201 most probably emitted less than 4.4 × 10 -4 M⊙ (7.9 × 1050 ergs) in any 100 ms long period within the signal region if the source was in M31 and radiated isotropically at the same frequency as LIGO's peak sensitivity (f ≈150 Hz). This upper limit does not exclude current models of SGRs at the M31 distance. © 2008. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Astrophysical Journal

First Page

1419

Last Page

1430

Recommended Citation

Abbott, B., Abbott, R., Adhikari, R., Agresti, J., Ajith, P., Allen, B., Amin, R., Anderson, S., Anderson, W., Arain, M., Araya, M., Armandula, H., Ashley, M., Aston, S., Aufmuth, P., Aulbert, C., Babak, S., Ballmer, S., Bantilan, H., Barish, B., Barker, C., Barker, D., Barr, B., Barriga, P., Barton, M., Bayer, K., Betzwieser, J., Beyersdorf, P., Bhawal, B., Bilenko, I., Billingsley, G., Biswas, R., & Black, E. (2008). Implications for the origin of GRB 070201 from LIGO observations. Astrophysical Journal, 681 (2), 1419-1430. https://doi.org/10.1086/587954