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LOOC UP: locating and observing optical counterparts to gravitational wave bursts

Jonah Kanner1, Tracy L Huard2, Szabolcs Márka3, David C Murphy4, Jennifer Piscionere3, Molly Reed5 and Peter Shawhan1

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Gravitational wave (GW) bursts (short duration signals) are expected to be associated with highly energetic astrophysical processes. With such high energies present, it is likely these astrophysical events will have signatures in the EM spectrum as well as in gravitational radiation. We have initiated a program, 'Locating and Observing Optical Counterparts to Unmodeled Pulses in Gravitational Waves' (LOOC UP) to promptly search for counterparts to GW burst candidates. The proposed method analyzes near real-time data from the LIGO–Virgo network, and then uses a telescope network to seek optical-transient counterparts to candidate GW signals. We carried out a pilot study using S5/VSR1 data from the LIGO–Virgo network to develop methods and software tools for such a search. We will present the method, with an emphasis on the potential for such a search to be carried out during the next science run of LIGO and Virgo, expected to begin in 2009.


PACS

04.80.Nn Gravitational wave detectors and experiments

98.70.Rz &ggr;-ray sources; &ggr;-ray bursts

95.55.Ym Gravitational radiation detectors; mass spectrometers; and other instrumentation and techniques

MSC

83C35 Gravitational waves

85A04 General

78A25 Electromagnetic theory, general

78A40 Waves and radiation

Subjects

Instrumentation and measurement

Gravitation and cosmology

Astrophysics and astroparticles

Dates

Issue 18 (21 September 2008)

Received 31 March 2008, in final form 8 June 2008

Published 2 September 2008



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