Abstract
The first direct detection of gravitational waves was made in late 2015 with the Advanced LIGO detectors. By prior arrangement, a worldwide collaboration of electromagnetic follow-up observers were notified of candidate gravitational wave events during the first science run, and many facilities were engaged in the search for counterparts. No counterparts were identified, which is in line with expectations given that the events were classified as black hole - black hole mergers. However these searches laid the foundation for similar follow-up campaigns in future gravitational wave detector science runs, in which the detection of neutron star merger events with observable electromagnetic counterparts is much more likely. Three alerts were issued to the electromagnetic collaboration over the course of the first science run, which lasted from September 2015 to January 2016. Two of these alerts were associated with the gravitational wave events since named GW150914 and GW151226. In this paper we provide an overview of the Liverpool Telescope contribution to the follow-up campaign over this period. Given the hundreds of square degree uncertainty in the sky position of any gravitational wave event, efficient searching for candidate counterparts required survey telescopes with large (~degrees) fields-of-view. The role of the Liverpool Telescope was to provide follow-up classification spectroscopy of any candidates. We followed candidates associated with all three alerts, observing 1, 9 and 17 candidates respectively. We classify the majority of the transients we observed as supernovae.
Highlights
The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory made the first direct detection of a gravitational wave (GW) signal on 2015 September 14 (Abbott et al 2016b)
We have presented a summary of the Liverpool Telescope (LT) observations obtained in support of the first Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (aLIGO) science run
The LT was part of a worldwide collaboration of EM facilities which responded to three triggers over the course of the run with the aim of detecting the EM counterpart to a gravitational wave event
Summary
The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (aLIGO: Aasi et al 2015) made the first direct detection of a gravitational wave (GW) signal on 2015 September 14 (Abbott et al 2016b). The event’s waveform was c 0000 The Authors shown to be characteristic of the compact binary coalescence (CBC) of two stellar-mass black holes This event, since named GW150914, was detected just prior to the beginning of the first official science run (O1), which lasted until January 2016. With only two GW detectors in the network operational, the median uncertainty in the sky position of any detection is of the order of hundreds of square degrees (e.g. Singer et al 2014; Kasliwal & Nissanke 2014; Berry et al 2015; Abbott et al 2016a) This presents two individual problems: the difficulty of searching such a large area for transient sources in a timely fashion, and secondly the difficulty in distinguishing the true counterpart from the long list of possible candidates which will exist in a sky area of this size.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
