GLADE: A Galaxy Catalogue for Multi-Messenger Searches in the Advanced Gravitational-Wave Detector Era

TL;DR

GLADE is a comprehensive galaxy catalogue designed to aid multi-messenger astrophysics by identifying host candidates for gravitational-wave events and electromagnetic transients, supporting follow-up observations and cosmological studies.

Contribution

It provides a new, complete all-sky galaxy catalogue combining multiple data sources, optimized for local universe gravitational-wave and electromagnetic transient follow-ups.

Findings

Complete up to 37 Mpc in B-band luminosity

Includes all brightest galaxies within 91 Mpc

Useful for estimating binary neutron star merger host completeness

Abstract

We introduce a value-added full-sky catalogue of galaxies, named as Galaxy List for the Advanced Detector Era, or GLADE. The purpose of this catalogue is to (i) help identifications of host candidates for gravitational-wave events, (ii) support target selections for electromagnetic follow-up observations of gravitational-wave candidates, (iii) provide input data on the matter distribution of the local universe for astrophysical or cosmological simulations, and (iv) help identifications of host candidates for poorly localised electromagnetic transients, such as gamma-ray bursts observed with the InterPlanetary Network. Both being potential hosts of astrophysical sources of gravitational waves, GLADE includes inactive and active galaxies as well. GLADE was constructed by cross-matching and combining data from five separate (but not independent) astronomical catalogues: GWGC, 2MPZ, 2MASS XSC, HyperLEDA and SDSS-DR12Q. GLADE is complete up to $d_L = 37^{+3}_{-4}$ Mpc in terms of the cumulative B-band luminosity of galaxies within luminosity distance $d_L$, and contains all of the brightest galaxies giving half of the total B-band luminosity up to $d_L = 91$ Mpc. As B-band luminosity is expected to be a tracer of binary neutron star mergers (currently the prime targets of joint GW+EM detections), our completeness measures can be used as estimations of completeness for containing all binary neutron star merger hosts in the local universe.