LIGO/Virgo S190426c
GCN Circular 25549
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: Update on Probability of Terrestrial Origin
Date
2019-08-29T14:46:43Z (6 years ago)
From
Deep Chatterjee at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee <deep@uwm.edu>
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration report:
A revised computation of the classification of the candidate based on
detection-pipeline-specific foreground and background models is
available. The probability of the source being of terrestrial origin
is now estimated to be 58% in contrast to the original estimation of
14% in�� GCN Circular 24237. This revision was necessitated by a
bug-fix in the source-classification code. This same bug-fix was used
to update the event candidate S190510g, as reported in GCN Circular
24462. We apologize for the delay in updating the information for this
event.
The estimated false alarm rate is unchanged at 1.9e-08 Hz, or about
one per 1.6 years. Note that future offline analyses may infer a
different terrestrial probability and/or false alarm rate.
The new p_astro.json file in GraceDB at
https://gracedb.ligo.org/superevents/S190426c/ reports that the
revised classification of the candidate is Terrestrial (58%),
BNS (24%), MassGap (12%), NSBH (6%) and BBH (<1%). Note that the
parameter estimation based classification reported in GCN Circular
24411 is unchanged: Assuming that the candidate S190426c is
astrophysical in origin, the relative probabilities amongst the signal
categories NSBH : MassGap : BNS : BBH are approximately 12 : 5 : 3 : 0
based on posterior support.
GCN Circular 24863
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: Swift UVOT - no new counterpart candidates identified
Date
2019-06-20T13:55:26Z (6 years ago)
From
Paul Kuin at MSSL <npkuin@gmail.com>
N. P. M. Kuin (UCL-MSSL), A. A. Breeveld (MSSL-UCL), C. Gronwall (PSU),
F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC), S. R. Oates (Uni. of Warwick), M.J. Page
(UCL-MSSL),
M. de Pasquale (Istambul U), M. H. Siegel (PSU), A. D'Ai (INAF-IASFPA),
P. D'Avanzo (INAF-OAB), S. D. Barthelmy (NASA/GSFC), A. P. Beardmore (U.
Leicester),
D. N. Burrows (PSU), S. Campana (INAF-OAB), S. B. Cenko (NASA/GSFC),
G. Cusumano (INAF-IASF PA), V. D'Elia(ASDC), P. A. Evans (U. Leicester),
P. Giommi (ASI), D. Hartmann (Clemson U.), J. A. Kennea (PSU),
H. A. Krimm (NSF), A. Y. Lien (GSFC/UMBC), D. B. Malesani (DTU Space),
A. Melandri (INAF-OAB), J. A. Nousek (PSU), P. T. O'Brien (U. Leicester),
J. P. Osborne (U. Leicester), C. Pagani (U. Leicester), K. L. Page
(U.Leicester),
D.M. Palmer (LANL), M. Perri (ASDC), J. L. Racusin (NASA/GSFC), T. Sakamoto
(AGU),
B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU), G. Tagliaferri (INAF-OAB), A. Tohuvavohu
(PSU),
and E. Troja (NASA/GSFC/UMCP) report on behalf of the Swift team:
The Swift UVOT instrument started follow up observations of the
LIGO-Virgo event S190426c (LVC GCN Circ. No. 24237) at 2019-04-26 17:45:00
UT
142 minutes after the event. Observations continued for about 48 hours
(Tohuvavohu et al., GCN Circ. No. 24353).
The UVOT approach for searching for the ultraviolet-optical counterpart has
been described in Kuin et al. (GCN Circ. No. 24767). The limiting magnitude
can vary but typically is 18.6th magnitude (Vega). In the 894 fields that
were observed, UVOT detected 1008 galaxies and 130 counterpart candidates
but none of the counterpart candidates from the automated processing proved
to be a viable source. Neither did the additional inspection of the imaged
galaxies lead to a candidate missed by the automated processing.
GCN Circular 24592
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: NICER X-ray Follow-Up of ZTF19aassfws
Date
2019-05-19T02:37:16Z (6 years ago)
From
Dheeraj R. Pasham at Mass. Inst. of Technology <dheeraj@space.mit.edu>
Dheeraj Pasham (MIT), Keith Gendreau (NASA/GSFC), Zaven Arzoumanian
(NASA/GSFC), Stephen Eikenberry (UFL), Wynn C.G. Ho (Haverford) report on
behalf of the NICER team:
The transient ZTF19aassfws (Perley et al., GCN#24331) fell in the
LIGO/Virgo error box of the trigger S190426c (LVC et al., GCN#24237), and
Cenko et al. (GCN#24430) found that its distance is consistent with that
inferred from the gravitational wave signal. NICER observed this target for
7 ks, approximately half of which was in especially low background/high
sensitivity conditions.
We do not detect any X-ray emission above the background from this region.
Assuming an X-ray spectrum with a power-law index of 1.7 (similar to
GW170817) at a redshift of 0.093 with an absorbing column of 8e20 cm**-2
(Milky Way column), we estimate an upper limit on the unabsorbed 0.35-11.5
keV X-ray flux of 1.3e-13 erg/s/cm**2.
NICER can carry out prompt follow-up observations of transients and is
planning to systematically follow up alerts from LIGO/Virgo and other X-ray
bright extra-galactic transients in the future.
NICER is a 0.2-12 keV X-ray telescope operating on the International Space
Station. The NICER mission and portions of the NICER science team
activities are funded by NASA.
GCN Circular 24551
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: AMI-LA radio observations of ZTF19aassfws
Date
2019-05-15T10:10:21Z (7 years ago)
From
Lauren Rhodes at Oxford <lauren.rhodes@physics.ox.ac.uk>
L. Rhodes, R. Fender, D. Williams, J. Bright (Oxford), K. Mooley (NRAO, Caltech; Jansky Fellow), A. Horesh (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), D. Green, D. Titterington (MRAO) and the JAGWAR collaboration.
We observed the position of the reported GW190426c afterglow candidate: ZTF19aassfws (D. A. Perley et al. GCN 24331) with the AMI Large Array at a central frequency of 15.5GHz. We started observing on 2019 May 10.16 for 4 hrs. We find no significant radio emission at the coordinates of ZTF19aassfws and therefore report a 3 sigma upper limit of 177uJy.
We thank the MRAO staff for scheduling these observations.
GCN Circular 24486
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: VLA Follow-Up Observations of ZTF19aassfws
Date
2019-05-11T16:52:35Z (7 years ago)
From
Alessandra Corsi at Texas Tech U <alessandra.corsi@ttu.edu>
Alessandra Corsi (TTU), Dale Frail (NRAO), Gregg Hallinan (Caltech), Kunal Mooley (Caltech/NRAO), Mansi Kasliwal (Caltech)
report on behalf of the JAGWAR collaboration:
We imaged the field of ZTF19aassfws (Perley et al. GCN 24331, Cenko et al. GCN 24430, Fremling et al. GCN 24433, Dong et al.
24440, Huber et al. GCN 24458), identified in the error region of the LIGO-Virgo event S190426c (LVC GCN 24237, 24411), with
the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in its B configuration. Our observations started on 2019 May10 at 07:19:15 UT, ended
on 2019 May 10 at 10:18:45 UT, and were carried out at a central frequency of about 2.8 GHz. Preliminary analysis shows no
evidence for significant radio emission at the location of ZTF19aassfws. We thus constrain the radio flux density at the
location of the ZTF transient to be <~16 uJy (3 sigma). At z=0.093, this corresponds to a luminosity density <~3.5e27 erg/s/Hz.
We thank the NRAO staff for promptly executing these observations.
GCN Circular 24440
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: Archival VLASS Observations of ZTF19aassfws 14 days prior to Merger
Date
2019-05-10T05:47:43Z (7 years ago)
From
Gregg Hallinan at OVRO-LWA <gh@astro.caltech.edu>
Dillon Dong (Caltech), Gregg Hallinan (Caltech), Dale Frail (NRAO) and
Kunal Mooley (NRAO/Caltech) report:
The VLA Sky Survey observed a field containing the nuclear optical
transient ZTF19aassfws (Perley et al., GCN 24331) on 2019-04-12 at UT
14:16:53, 14 days prior to the compact object merger candidate S190426c
(LVC et al.; GCN 24237). There is no archival 3GHz source at the
transient location, with a local 3 sigma upper limit of 390uJy. This
rules out a radio-luminous AGN with a specific luminosity greater than
9x10^28 erg/s/Hz at the spectroscopic redshift reported by Cenko (GCN
24430).
The VLA Sky Survey (VLASS) is a multi-epoch, 2-4 GHz survey with the
Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) covering the full sky north of
declination = -40 degrees at ~2.5" resolution to a 1-sigma depth of
~120uJy/beam per epoch. Observations and data reduction for the VLASS
are carried out by staff of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
(NRAO). The NRAO is a facility of the National Science Foundation
operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
GCN Circular 24434
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: Correction to typo in GCN 24433
Date
2019-05-09T17:24:17Z (7 years ago)
From
Mansi M. Kasliwal at Caltech/Carnegie <mansikasliwal@gmail.com>
The correct UT date for the INT observations reported in Fremling et al.
GCN 24433 is 2019-05-08. Apologies for the typo.
GCN Circular 24433
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: INT Observations of ZTF19aassfws
Date
2019-05-09T15:13:58Z (7 years ago)
From
Mansi M. Kasliwal at Caltech/Carnegie <mansikasliwal@gmail.com>
Christoffer Fremling (Caltech), Andrew Levan (Radboud), Mansi Kasliwal
(Caltech) and Nial Tanvir (Leicester)
report on behalf of a larger collaboration
We imaged ZTF19aassfws (Perley et al. GCN 24331, Coughlin et al. GCN 24283)
with the INT on UT 2019-04-08. Difference imaging relative to PanSTARRS1
(Chambers et al. 2016) finds no detection in the r-band to r > 22.6 mag and
a bright detection in z-band at z ~ 20.8,corresponding to M_Z ~ -17.2 at
z=0.093 (Cenko et al. GCN24430). The z-band luminosity is higher than
GW170817 at this phase. The red color at this phase is plausible for a
kilonova but we cannot definitively rule out unrelated, nuclear activity.
We further caution that the INT and PS1 have different filter transmission
curves in z-band. We encourage follow-up to confirm or refute the
association of this source with the GW event S190426c (LVC et al. GCN
24237, GCN 24411).
We thank the INT observers, Lord Dover and Tarik Zegmott for facilitating
these observations.
GCN Circular 24430
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: Discovery Channel Telescope Follow-Up of ZTF19aassfws
Date
2019-05-09T03:33:11Z (7 years ago)
From
Brad Cenko at NASA/GSFC <brad.cenko@nasa.gov>
S. B. Cenko (GSFC), S. Frederick (UMd), P. Gatkine (UMd), S. Dichiara (GSFC/UMd), E. Troja (GSFC/UMd), and L. P. Singer (GSFC) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
We obtained a spectrum of the transient source ZTF19aassfws (Perley et al., GCN 24331) with the DeVeny spectrograph on the 4.3m Discovery Channel Telescope beginning at 10:07 UT on 2 May 2019. The slit was centered on the nucleus of the host galaxy, SDSS J195440.25+611424.2. The spectrum is dominated by a red stellar continuum, along with a series of nebular emission lines corresponding to a redshift of z = 0.093. No clear evidence for broad emission lines or non-galaxy features are apparent. For standard cosmological parameters, this corresponds to a luminosity distance of ~ 430 Mpc, consistent with the distance inferred from the gravitational wave emission (LVC et al., GCN 24237).
GCN Circular 24420
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c (BHNS candidate): Implications from Numerical Relativity
Date
2019-05-07T18:39:37Z (7 years ago)
From
Antonios Tsokaros at U of Illinois,Urbana-Champaign <tsokaros@illinois.edu>
LIGO/Virgo S190426c (BHNS candidate): Implications from Numerical Relativity
M. Ruiz, S. L. Shapiro and A. Tsokaros
report on behalf of the Illinois Relativity Group
Consistent with GCN 24411, indicating that the LIGO/Virgo gravitational
wave source S190426c is a likely BHNS, the absence of a gamma-ray burst,
kilonova and other counterpart EM radiation agrees with recent GRMHD
simulations of BHNS mergers by our Illinois Relativity Group. In
Ruiz, Shapiro and Tsokaros (2018), PRD 98, 123017 (arXiv 1810.08618), the
group surveyed BHNS configurations with different initial mass ratios
q=BH:NS=3:1 and 5:1, BH spins a_{BH}/M_{BH}=-0.5, 0, 0.5, 0.75 and dipole
magnetic fields (aligned and tilted by 90 degrees with respect to the
orbital angular momentum). Only for initial a_{BH}/M_{BH}>=0.5 and
aligned B-fields did we find collimated, magnetically-confined jets
launched from the poles of the BH remnants following the peak GW signal.
Only in those cases did we find EM luminosities consistent with typical
sGRBs and significant mass outflows. For example, in our case q=5:1 and
a_{BH}/M_{BH}=0 the remnant disk and magnetic field were too small to
drive a jet and generate a significant mass outflow or counterpart EM
luminosity, hence no sGRB or kilonova.
GCN Circular 24418
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: Konus-Wind observations
Date
2019-05-07T11:28:17Z (7 years ago)
From
Dmitry Svinkin at Ioffe Institute <svinkin@mail.ioffe.ru>
D. Svinkin, S. Golenetskii, R.Aptekar, D. Frederiks,
M. Ulanov, A. Tsvetkova, A. Lysenko, A. Kozlova, and T. Cline,
on behalf of the Konus-Wind team, report:
Konus-Wind (KW) was observing the whole sky at the time of the
LIGO/Virgo event S190426c (2019-04-26 15:21:55.337 UTC, hereafter T0;
LIGO/Virgo Collaboration GCN Circ. 24237).
No triggered KW event happened from ~7 days before and ~0.6 day
after T0. The closest waiting-mode event was ~12.5 hours before T0.
Using waiting-mode data within the interval T0 +/- 100 s,
we found no significant (> 5 sigma) excess over the background
in both KW detectors on temporal scales from 2.944 s to 100 s.
We estimate an upper limit (90% conf.) on the 20 - 1500 keV fluence
to 7.3x10^-7 erg/cm^2 for a burst lasting less than 2.944 s and having a
typical KW short GRB spectrum (an exponentially cut off power law with
alpha =-0.5 and Ep=500 keV). For a typical long GRB spectrum (the Band
function with alpha=-1, beta=-2.5, and Ep=300 keV), the corresponding
limiting peak flux is 2.0x10^-7 erg/cm^2/s (20 - 1500 keV, 2.944 s scale).
All the quoted values are preliminary.
GCN Circular 24411
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: Update on Source Classification
Date
2019-05-06T16:21:43Z (7 years ago)
From
Deep Chatterjee at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee <deep@uwm.edu>
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: Update on Source Classification
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration report:
Based on posterior support from preliminary parameter estimation
[1,2], under the assumption that the candidate S190426c is
astrophysical in origin, the relative probabilities amongst
the signal categories NSBH : MassGap : BNS : BBH are revised
to be approximately 12 : 5 : 3 : 0.
Under the same assumption of astrophysical origin, we find
strong evidence that the lighter compact object has a
mass < 3 solar masses (HasNS: >99%) and a 72% probability
of having disrupted material outside the final compact object
(HasRemnant: 72%).
The probability of non-astrophysical origin and the false
alarm rate are not being updated at this time; both measures
of significance should be expected to change with offline analyses
and continued observations.
For further information about analysis methodology and the contents
of this alert, refer to the LIGO/Virgo Public Alerts User Guide
<https://emfollow.docs.ligo.org/userguide/>.
[1] Veitch, et al. PRD 91, 042003 (2015)
[2] Abbott, et al. PRL 116, 241102 (2016)
GCN Circular 24368
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: Gaia19boq 0.6m BOOTES-5/JGT, 1.5m OSN and 10.4m GTC observations
Date
2019-05-02T14:38:17Z (7 years ago)
From
Alberto J. Castro-Tirado at IAA-CSIC <ajct@iaa.es>
R. Sanchez-Ramirez (INAF-IAPS), A. F. Valeev and V. V. Sokolov
(SAO-RAS), Y.-D. Hu, A. J. Castro-Tirado, X.-Y. Li, A. Ayala, E.
Fernandez-Garcia and F. J. Aceituno (IAA-CSIC), I. Carrasco, A.
Castellon and C. Perez del Pulgar (UMA), D. Hiriart and W. H. Lee
(UNAM), S. Jeong and I. H. Park (SKKU), A. Garcia and S. Geier
(GRANTECAN, IAC, ULL), on behalf of a larger collaboration, report:
Following the detection of Gaia19boq (Kostrzewa-Rutkowska et al., GCN
24344) within the error area of the GW event S190426c (LVC, GCN 24237),
we observed the target with the 1.5m telescope at the Observatorio de
Sierra Nevada (Spain) in the BVI-bands, starting on May 1, 04:07 UT.
Complementary images I ugriZ were taken starting on May 1, 11:41 UT at
the 0.6m BOOTES-5/JGT in Observatorio Nacional de San Pedro Martir
(Mexico). In addition, an optical spectrum (900s) covering the range
3700-7500 A was obtained with the 10.4m GTC telescope equipped with
OSIRIS in La Palma (Spain) starting on May 1, 04:07 UT.
The Gaia19boq spectrum reveals strong Balmer lines in absorption, with
the exception of a very weak H-alpha showing a P Cyg profile. All lines
are redshifted ~400 km/s. Therefore we conclude that Gaia19boq is found
to be a CVN star in outburst in our Galaxy and therefore unrelated to
the GW event S190426c.
We acknowledge the excellent support from the GTC staff.
GCN Circular 24359
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: ZTF19aaslzjf, ZTF19aasmftm and ZTF19aasmddt 1.5m OSN and 10.4m GTC observations
Date
2019-05-01T09:45:01Z (7 years ago)
From
Alberto J. Castro-Tirado at IAA-CSIC <ajct@iaa.es>
Y.-D. Hu, A. J. Castro-Tirado, (IAA-CSIC), A. F. Valeev and V. V.
Sokolov (SAO-RAS), R. Sanchez-Ramirez (INAF-IAPS), X.-Y. Li, A. Ayala,
E. Fernandez-Garcia and F. J. Aceituno (IAA-CSIC), I. Carrasco, A.
Castellon and C. Perez del Pulgar (UMA), M. D. Caballero-Garcia
(ASU-CAS), S. B. Pandey (ARIES), A. Garcia and S. Geier (GRANTECAN, IAC,
ULL), on behalf of a larger collaboration, report:
Following the detection of the three new transients ZTF19aaslzjf,
ZTF19aasmftm and ZTF19aasmddt (Perley et al., GCN 24331) within the
error area of the GW event S190426c (LVC, GCN 24237), we observed the
three targets with the 1.5m telescope at the Observatorio de Sierra
Nevada (Spain) in the BVI-bands, starting on May 1, 02:01 UT. In
addition, optical spectra for each target (1200s) covering the range
3700-7500 A were obtained with the 10.4m GTC telescope equipped with
OSIRIS in La Palma (Spain) starting on May 1, 02:30 UT.
ZTF19aaslzjf is found to be in the outskirts of its host galaxy and its
spectrum is consistent with that of a type Ia SN at z= 0.086.
ZTF19aasmftm is found to be in the outskirts of its host galaxy and its
spectrum is consistent with that of a type Ia SN few days before maximum
at z = 0.156 (confirmed by the emission lines of the galaxy).
ZTF19aasmddt is found to be in the outskirts of its host galaxy at a
redshift z = 0.028. The spectrum resembles that of a Type II SN at the
same redshift before maximum.
Therefore none of these three newly reported ZTF transients seem to be
related to the GW event S190426c.
We acknowledge the excellent support from the GTC staff.
GCN Circular 24357
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: ZTF pre-detections of Gaia19bpm AT2019ehs
Date
2019-04-30T18:36:11Z (7 years ago)
From
Igor Andreoni at Caltech <igor.andreoni@gmail.com>
Igor Andreoni (Caltech), Eric Bellm (UW) report on behalf of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen (GROWTH) collaborations
We searched for Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) detections associated with Gaia19bpm AT2019ehs (Kostrzewa-Rutkowska et al., GCN 24355) in the archive of ZTF alerts. ��A transient, dubbed ZTF19aaphkxx, was found at the location of Gaia19bpm.�� The transient was first detected in public ZTF data starting from 2019-04-08 (g = 18.66 +- 0.14) and it peaked around 2019-04-15 (g = 17.98 +- 0.08).
The optical transient was detected days before the gravitational wave event S190426c (LIGO and Virgo Collaboration, GCN 24237), therefore we exclude an association between Gaia19bpm AT2019ehs and S190426c.
ZTF and GROWTH are worldwide collaborations comprising Caltech, USA; IPAC, USA, WIS, Israel; OKC, Sweden; JSI/UMd, USA; U Washington, USA; DESY, Germany; MOST, Taiwan; UW Milwaukee, USA; LANL USA; Tokyo Tech, Japan; IIT-B, India; IIA, India; LJMU, UK; TTU USA and USyd, Australia. ZTF acknowledges the generous support of the NSF under AST MSIP Grant No 1440341. GROWTH acknowledges generous support of the NSF under PIRE Grant No 1545949. Alert distribution service provided by DIRAC@UW (Patterson et al. 2019).
GCN Circular 24355
Subject
LIGO/Virgo S190426c: Gaia Photometric Alerts transient candidate
Date
2019-04-30T15:20:56Z (7 years ago)
From
Zuzanna Kostrzewa-Rutkowska at SRON <z.p.kostrzewa@sron.nl>
Z. Kostrzewa-Rutkowska (SRON/RU), S. Hodgkin, A. Delgado, D.L. Harrison, M.
van Leeuwen, G. Rixon, A. Yoldas (IoA Cambridge), D. Eappachen, P.G. Jonker
(SRON/RU) on behalf of Gaia Alerts team report the discovery of a transient
candidate within the probability skymap of S190426c (LIGO/VIRGO
Collaboration GCN 24237