SOAR/Goodman Spectroscopic Assessment of Candidate Counterparts of the LIGO/Virgo Event GW190814*

Tucker, D. L. and Wiesner, M. P. and Desai, Shantanu and et al, . (2022) SOAR/Goodman Spectroscopic Assessment of Candidate Counterparts of the LIGO/Virgo Event GW190814*. The Astrophysical Journal, 929 (2). pp. 1-26. ISSN 0004-637X

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Abstract

On 2019 August 14 at 21:10:39 UTC, the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration (LVC) detected a possible neutron star-black hole merger (NSBH), the first ever identified. An extensive search for an optical counterpart of this event, designated GW190814, was undertaken using the Dark Energy Camera on the 4 m Victor M. Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Target of Opportunity interrupts were issued on eight separate nights to observe 11 candidates using the 4.1 m Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope's Goodman High Throughput Spectrograph in order to assess whether any of these transients was likely to be an optical counterpart of the possible NSBH merger. Here, we describe the process of observing with SOAR, the analysis of our spectra, our spectroscopic typing methodology, and our resultant conclusion that none of the candidates corresponded to the gravitational wave merger event but were all instead other transients. Finally, we describe the lessons learned from this effort. Application of these lessons will be critical for a successful community spectroscopic follow-up program for LVC observing run 4 (O4) and beyond. © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

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IITH Creators:

IITH Creators	ORCiD
Desai, Shantanu	http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0466-3288

Item Type:

Article

Additional Information:

This manuscript has been authored by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359 with the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes.

Uncontrolled Keywords:

the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration (LVC), neutron star-black hole merger (NSBH), GW190814, 4 m Victor M. Blanco Telescope.

Subjects:

Physics
Physics > Astronomy Astrophysics

Divisions:

Department of Physics

Depositing User:

. LibTrainee 2021

Date Deposited:

13 Jul 2022 10:43

Last Modified:

13 Jul 2022 10:43