Enhancing gravitational wave astronomy with galaxy catalogues

Fan, X., Messenger, C. and Heng, I. S. (2014) Enhancing gravitational wave astronomy with galaxy catalogues. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, 40, pp. 35-42. (doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-10488-1_3)

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Abstract

Joint gravitational wave (GW) and electromagnetic (EM) observations, as a key research direction in multi-messenger astronomy, will provide deep insight into the astrophysics of a vast range of astronomical phenomena. Uncertainties in the source sky location estimate from gravitational wave observations mean follow-up observatories must scan large portions of the sky for a potential companion signal. A general frame of joint GW-EM observations is presented by a multi-messenger observational triangle. Using a Bayesian approach to multi-messenger astronomy, we investigate the use of galaxy catalogue and host galaxy information to reduce the sky region over which follow-up observatories must scan, as well as study its use for improving the inclination angle estimates for coalescing binary compact objects. We demonstrate our method using a simulated neutron stars inspiral signal injected into simulated Advanced detectors noise and estimate the injected signal sky location and inclination angle using the Gravitational Wave Galaxy Catalogue. In this case study, the top three candidates in rank have 72 %, 15 % and 8 % posterior probability of being the host galaxy, respectively. The standard deviation of cosine inclination angle (0.001) of the neutron stars binary using gravitational wave-galaxy information is much smaller than that (0.02) using only gravitational wave posterior samples.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:ISBN: 9783319104874
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Heng, Professor Ik Siong and Messenger, Dr Christopher and Fan, Dr Xilong
Authors: Fan, X., Messenger, C., and Heng, I. S.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
Research Centre:College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy > Institute for Gravitational Research
Journal Name:Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings
Publisher:Springer
ISSN:1570-6591
ISSN (Online):1570-6605

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