Fermi Observations of the LIGO Event GW170104

Authors

A. Goldstein, Huntsville Program Office
P. Veres, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
E. Burns, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
L. Blackburn, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
M. S. Briggs, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
N. Christensen, Carleton College, USA
W. H. Cleveland, Huntsville Program Office
V. Connaughton, Huntsville Program Office
T. Dal Canton, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
R. Hamburg, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
C. M. Hui, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
P. A. Jenke, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
D. Kocevski, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
R. D. Preece, The University of Alabama in Huntsville
K. Siellez, Georgia Institute of Technology
J. Veitch, University of Birmingham
C. A. Wilson-Hodge, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
N. Bhat, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
E. Bissaldi, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari
M. H. Gibby, Jacobs Technology Inc.
M. M. Giles, Jacobs Technology Inc.
A. Von Kienlin, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
B. Mailyan, Florida Institute of Technology
C. A. Meegan, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
W. S. Paciesas, Huntsville Program Office
O. J. Roberts, Huntsville Program Office
M. Stanbro, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
M. Ackermann, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)
M. Ajello, Clemson University
W. B. Atwood, Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics
L. Baldini, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
G. Barbiellini, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste
D. Bastieri, Istituto Nazionale Di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Padova

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-2017

Abstract

We present the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations of the LIGO binary black hole merger (BBH) event GW170104. No candidate electromagnetic counterpart was detected by either GBM or LAT. A detailed analysis of the GBM and LAT data over timescales from seconds to days covering the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) localization region is presented. The resulting flux upper bound from the GBM is (5.2-9.4) ×10-7 erg cm-2 s-1 in the 10-1000 keV range and from the LAT is (0.2-90) ×10-9 erg cm-2 s-1 in the 0.1-1 GeV range. We also describe the improvements to our automated pipelines and analysis techniques for searching for and characterizing the potential electromagnetic counterparts for future gravitational-wave events from Advanced LIGO/Virgo.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Astrophysical Journal Letters

Recommended Citation

Goldstein, A., Veres, P., Burns, E., Blackburn, L., Briggs, M., Christensen, N., Cleveland, W., Connaughton, V., Canton, T., Hamburg, R., Hui, C., Jenke, P., Kocevski, D., Preece, R., Siellez, K., Veitch, J., Wilson-Hodge, C., Bhat, N., Bissaldi, E., Gibby, M., Giles, M., Von Kienlin, A., Mailyan, B., Meegan, C., Paciesas, W., Roberts, O., Stanbro, M., Ackermann, M., Ajello, M., Atwood, W., Baldini, L., Barbiellini, G., & Bastieri, D. (2017). Fermi Observations of the LIGO Event GW170104. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 846 (1) https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aa8319