Searching for electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave transients

TL;DR

This paper describes an early electromagnetic follow-up program for gravitational wave triggers, involving multi-wavelength observations and specialized image analysis techniques to identify potential EM counterparts during LIGO/Virgo runs.

Contribution

It presents the design and implementation of an EM follow-up strategy and image analysis methods for detecting counterparts to gravitational wave events.

Findings

Successful coordination of ground and space-based observations

Development of image analysis procedures for EM counterpart identification

Application of methods to TAROT and Zadko data

Abstract

A pioneering electromagnetic (EM) observation follow-up program of candidate gravitational wave (GW) triggers has been performed, Dec 17 2009 to Jan 8 2010 and Sep 4 to Oct 20 2010, during the recent LIGO/Virgo run. The follow-up program involved ground-based and space EM facilities observing the sky at optical, X-ray and radio wavelengths. The joint GW/EM observation study requires the development of specific image analysis procedures able to discriminate the possible EM counterpart of GW trigger from background events. The paper shows an overview of the EM follow-up program and the developing image analysis procedures as they are applied to data collected with TAROT and Zadko.