2900 square degree search for the optical counterpart of short gamma-ray burst GRB 180523B with the zwicky transient facility

Authors

Michael W. Coughlin, California Institute of Technology
Tomás Ahumada, University of Maryland, College Park
S. Bradley Cenko, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Virginia Cunningham, University of Maryland, College Park
Shaon Ghosh, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Leo P. Singer, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Eric C. Bellm, University of Washington
Eric Burns, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Kishalay De, California Institute of Technology
Adam Goldstein, Huntsville Program Office
V. Zach Golkhou, University of Washington
David L. Kaplan, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Mansi M. Kasliwal, California Institute of Technology
Daniel A. Perley, Liverpool John Moores University
Jesper Sollerman, Oskar Klein Centre
Ashot Bagdasaryan, California Institute of Technology
Richard G. Dekany, California Institute of Technology
Dmitry A. Duev, California Institute of Technology
Michael Feeney, California Institute of Technology
Matthew J. Graham, California Institute of Technology
David Hale, California Institute of Technology
Shri R. Kulkarni, California Institute of Technology
Thomas Kupfer, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics
Russ R. Laher, California Institute of Technology
Ashish Mahabal, California Institute of Technology
Frank J. Masci, California Institute of Technology
Adam A. Miller, Northwestern University
James D. Neill, California Institute of Technology
Maria T. Patterson, University of Washington
Reed Riddle, California Institute of Technology
Ben Rusholme, California Institute of Technology
Roger Smith, California Institute of Technology
Yutaro Tachibana, Tokyo Institute of Technology

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-2019

Abstract

There is significant interest in the models for production of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Until now, the number of known short GRBs with multi-wavelength afterglows has been small. While the Fermi GRB Monitor detects many GRBs relative to the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, the large localization regions makes the search for counterparts difficult. With the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) recently achieving first light, it is now fruitful to use its combination of depth (m AB ∼20.6), field of view (≈47 square degrees), and survey cadence (every ∼3 days) to perform Target of Opportunity observations. We demonstrate this capability on GRB 180523B, which was recently announced by the Fermi GRB Monitor as a short GRB. ZTF imaged ≈2900 square degrees of the localization region, resulting in the coverage of 61.6% of the enclosed probability over two nights to a depth of m AB ∼20.5. We characterized 14 previously unidentified transients, and none were found to be consistent with a short GRB counterpart. This search with the ZTF shows it is an efficient camera for searching for coarsely localized short GRB and gravitational-wave counterparts, allowing for a sensitive search with minimal interruption to its nominal cadence.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Recommended Citation

Coughlin, M., Ahumada, T., Cenko, S., Cunningham, V., Ghosh, S., Singer, L., Bellm, E., Burns, E., De, K., Goldstein, A., Golkhou, V., Kaplan, D., Kasliwal, M., Perley, D., Sollerman, J., Bagdasaryan, A., Dekany, R., Duev, D., Feeney, M., Graham, M., Hale, D., Kulkarni, S., Kupfer, T., Laher, R., Mahabal, A., Masci, F., Miller, A., Neill, J., Patterson, M., Riddle, R., Rusholme, B., Smith, R., & Tachibana, Y. (2019). 2900 square degree search for the optical counterpart of short gamma-ray burst GRB 180523B with the zwicky transient facility. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 131 (998) https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/aaff99