SEARCHING the GAMMA-RAY SKY for COUNTERPARTS to GRAVITATIONAL WAVE SOURCES: FERMI GAMMA-RAY BURST MONITO R and LARGE AREA TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS of LVT151012 and GW151226

Authors

Fermi Lat Collaboration
J. L. Racusin, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
E. Burns, The University of Alabama in Huntsville
A. Goldstein, Huntsville Program Office
V. Connaughton, Huntsville Program Office
C. A. Wilson-Hodge, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
P. Jenke, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
L. Blackburn, LIGO, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M. S. Briggs, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
J. Broida, Carleton College, USA
J. Camp, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
N. Christensen, Carleton College, USA
C. M. Hui, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
T. Littenberg, Huntsville Program Office
P. Shawhan, University of Maryland, College Park
L. Singer, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
J. Veitch, University of Birmingham
P. N. Bhat, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
W. Cleveland, Huntsville Program Office
G. Fitzpatrick, University College Dublin
M. H. Gibby, Jacobs Technology Inc.
A. Von Kienlin, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
S. McBreen, University College Dublin
B. Mailyan, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
C. A. Meegan, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
W. S. Paciesas, Huntsville Program Office
R. D. Preece, The University of Alabama in Huntsville
O. J. Roberts, University College Dublin
M. Stanbro, The University of Alabama in Huntsville
P. Veres, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
B. B. Zhang, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
M. Ackermann, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)
A. Albert, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-20-2017

Abstract

We present the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations of the LIGO binary black hole merger event GW151226 and candidate LVT151012. At the time of the LIGO triggers on LVT151012 and GW151226, GBM was observing 68% and 83% of the localization regions, and LAT was observing 47% and 32%, respectively. No candidate electromagnetic counterparts were detected by either the GBM or LAT. We present a detailed analysis of the GBM and LAT data over a range of timescales from seconds to years, using automated pipelines and new techniques for characterizing the flux upper bounds across large areas of the sky. Due to the partial GBM and LAT coverage of the large LIGO localization regions at the trigger times for both events, differences in source distances and masses, as well as the uncertain degree to which emission from these sources could be beamed, these non-detections cannot be used to constrain the variety of theoretical models recently applied to explain the candidate GBM counterpart to GW150914.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Astrophysical Journal

Recommended Citation

Lat Collaboration, F., Racusin, J., Burns, E., Goldstein, A., Connaughton, V., Wilson-Hodge, C., Jenke, P., Blackburn, L., Briggs, M., Broida, J., Camp, J., Christensen, N., Hui, C., Littenberg, T., Shawhan, P., Singer, L., Veitch, J., Bhat, P., Cleveland, W., Fitzpatrick, G., Gibby, M., Kienlin, A., McBreen, S., Mailyan, B., Meegan, C., Paciesas, W., Preece, R., Roberts, O., Stanbro, M., Veres, P., Zhang, B., Ackermann, M., & Albert, A. (2017). SEARCHING the GAMMA-RAY SKY for COUNTERPARTS to GRAVITATIONAL WAVE SOURCES: FERMI GAMMA-RAY BURST MONITO R and LARGE AREA TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS of LVT151012 and GW151226. Astrophysical Journal, 835 (1) https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/835/1/82