The Gravity Collective: A Search for the Electromagnetic Counterpart to the Neutron Star–Black Hole Merger GW190814

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal 2021-12, Vol.923 (2), p.258
• Main Authors: Kilpatrick, Charles D., Coulter, David A., Arcavi, Iair, Brink, Thomas G., Dimitriadis, Georgios, Filippenko, Alexei V., Foley, Ryan J., Howell, D. Andrew, Jones, David O., Kasen, Daniel, Makler, Martin, Piro, Anthony L., Rojas-Bravo, César, Sand, David J., Swift, Jonathan J., Tucker, Douglas, Zheng, WeiKang, Allam, Sahar S., Annis, James T., Antilen, Juanita, Bachmann, Tristan G., Bloom, Joshua S., Bom, Clecio R., Bostroem, K. Azalee, Brout, Dillon, Burke, Jamison, Butler, Robert E., Butner, Melissa, Campillay, Abdo, Clever, Karoli E., Conselice, Christopher J., Cooke, Jeff, Dage, Kristen C., de Carvalho, Reinaldo R., de Jaeger, Thomas, Desai, Shantanu, Garcia, Alyssa, Garcia-Bellido, Juan, Gill, Mandeep S. S., Girish, Nachiket, Hallakoun, Na’ama, Herner, Kenneth, Hiramatsu, Daichi, Holz, Daniel E., Huber, Grace, Kawash, Adam M., McCully, Curtis, Medallon, Sophia A., Metzger, Brian D., Modak, Shaunak, Morgan, Robert, Muñoz, Ricardo R., Muñoz-Elgueta, Nahir, Murakami, Yukei S., E., Felipe Olivares, Palmese, Antonella, Patra, Kishore C., Pereira, Maria E. S., Pessi, Thallis L., Pineda-Garcia, J., Quirola-Vásquez, Jonathan, Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico, Rembold, Sandro Barboza, Rest, Armin, Rodríguez, Ósmar, Santana-Silva, Luidhy, Sherman, Nora F., Siebert, Matthew R., Smith, Carli, Smith, J. Allyn, Soares-Santos, Marcelle, Stacey, Holland, Stahl, Benjamin E., Strader, Jay, Strasburger, Erika, Sunseri, James, Tinyanont, Samaporn, Tucker, Brad E., Ulloa, Natalie, Valenti, Stefano, Vasylyev, Sergiy S., Wiesner, Matthew P., Zhang, Keto D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Active galactic nuclei; Afterglows; ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Astrophysics; Black holes; Galactic evolution; Galaxies; Gamma ray astronomy; Gamma ray bursts; Gamma rays; Gravitational waves; Imaging; Localization; Neutron stars; Nickel; Optical properties; Space telescopes; Stars & galaxies; Two dimensional analysis
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac23c6

We present optical follow-up imaging obtained with the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, Nickel Telescope, Swope Telescope, and Thacher Telescope of the LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave (GW) signal from the neutron star–black hole (NSBH) merger GW190814. We searched the GW190814 localization region (19 deg 2 for the 90th percentile best localization), covering a total of 51 deg 2 and 94.6% of the two-dimensional localization region. Analyzing the properties of 189 transients that we consider as candidate counterparts to the NSBH merger, including their localizations, discovery times from merger, optical spectra, likely host galaxy redshifts, and photometric evolution, we conclude that none of these objects are likely to be associated with GW190814. Based on this finding, we consider the likely optical properties of an electromagnetic counterpart to GW190814, including possible kilonovae and short gamma-ray burst afterglows. Using the joint limits from our follow-up imaging, we conclude that a counterpart with an r -band decline rate of 0.68 mag day −1 , similar to the kilonova AT 2017gfo, could peak at an absolute magnitude of at most −17.8 mag (50% confidence). Our data are not constraining for “red” kilonovae and rule out “blue” kilonovae with M > 0.5 M ⊙ (30% confidence). We strongly rule out all known types of short gamma-ray burst afterglows with viewing angles