Searching for Gravitational-Wave Counterparts using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential of TESS to detect electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave events, using data analysis and simulations to assess detection capabilities and limitations for future GW observations.

Contribution

It introduces a transient detection pipeline for TESS data and evaluates TESS's potential to discover kilonovae associated with GW events in upcoming observing runs.

Findings

No counterparts brighter than 17th magnitude found in O3 data.

TESS could detect up to one GW counterpart per year in O4.

TESS may identify kilonovae not triggered by GW detectors.

Abstract

In 2017, the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave (GW) detectors, in conjunction with electromagnetic (EM) astronomers, observed the first GW multi-messenger astrophysical event, the binary neutron star (BNS) merger GW170817. This marked the beginning of a new era in multi-messenger astrophysics. To discover further GW multi-messenger events, we explore the synergies between the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and GW observations triggered by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration (LVK) detector network. TESS's extremely wide field of view of ~2300 deg^2 means that it could overlap with large swaths of GW localizations, which can often span hundreds of deg^2 or more. In this work, we use a recently developed transient detection pipeline to search TESS data collected during the LVK's third observing run, O3, for any EM counterparts. We find no obvious counterparts brighter than about 17th magnitude in the TESS bandpass. Additionally, we present end-to-end simulations of BNS mergers, including their detection in GWs and simulations of light curves, to identify TESS's kilonova discovery potential for the LVK's next observing run (O4). In the most optimistic case, TESS will observe up to one GW-found BNS merger counterpart per year. However, TESS may also find up to five kilonovae which did not trigger the LVK network, emphasizing that EM-triggered GW searches may play a key role in future kilonova detections. We also discuss how TESS can help place limits on EM emission from binary black hole mergers, and rapidly exclude large sky areas for poorly localized GW events.