The GW-Universe Toolbox III: simulating joint observations of gravitational waves and gamma-ray bursts

TL;DR

This paper enhances the GW-Universe Toolbox by adding a short gamma-ray burst model, enabling simulations of joint GW and sGRB detections, and predicts detection rates for current and future GW detector networks.

Contribution

It introduces a new sGRB model into the Toolbox, providing predictions for joint GW-sGRB detection rates across different detector configurations.

Findings

ET will observe most BNSs with GW counterparts.

Sub-threshold GW searches using sGRB info are highly promising.

Most joint detections now involve off-axis sGRBs, but on-axis detections will dominate in the ET era.

Abstract

In the current multi-messenger astronomy era, it is important that information about joint gravitational wave (GW) and electromagnetic (EM) observations through short gamma-ray burst (sGRBs) remains easily accessible. The possibility for non-experts to execute quick computations of joint GW-sGRB detections should be facilitated. We construct a sGRB model and add this to the framework of the previously-built Gravitational Wave Universe Toolbox. We provide expected joint GW-sGRB detection rates for different combinations of GW detectors and high-energy (HE) instruments. We employ and adapt a generic GRB model to create a top-hat jet model suitable for the Toolbox. We simulate a population of binary neutron stars (BNSs) observed by a user-specified GW detector. Our model predicts the properties of a resulting sGRB, as well as its detectability. We report predicted joint detection rates for combinations of GW detectors with HE instruments. Our findings stress the significance of the impact of the Einstein Telescope (ET); ET will observe BNSs at such a rate that the vast majority of detected sGRBs will have an observed GW counterpart. Additionally, given the limited LIGO horizon, a search for sub-threshold GW signals at higher redshifts using sGRB information from HE detectors has the potential to be very successful. Equivalently, during the ET era, GW data can assist in finding sub-threshold sGRBs, potentially increasing e.g. the number of joint ET-Fermi/GBM observations by $\sim$270%. Lastly, we find that our top-hat jet model underestimates the number of joint detections that include an off-axis sGRB. We correct for this with a second, wider and weaker jet component. We find that the majority of joint detections during the current era will include an off-axis sGRB, making GRB170817A not as unlikely as one would think. In the ET era, most joint detections will contain an on-axis sGRB.