Title
Fermi-LAT Observations of LIGO/Virgo Event GW170817
Date Issued
10 July 2018
Access level
open access
Resource Type
research article
Author(s)
Ajello M.
Allafort A.
Axelsson M.
Baldini L.
Barbiellini G.
Baring M.G.
Bastieri D.
Bellazzini R.
Berenji B.
Bissaldi E.
Blandford R.D.
Bloom E.D.
Bonino R.
Bottacini E.
Brandt T.J.
Bregeon J.
Bruel P.
Buehler R.
Burnett T.H.
Buson S.
Cameron R.A.
Caputo R.
Caraveo P.A.
Casandjian J.M.
Cavazzuti E.
Chekhtman A.
Cheung C.C.
Chiang J.
Chiaro G.
Ciprini S.
Cohen-Tanugi J.
Cominsky L.R.
Costantin D.
Cuoco A.
Cutini S.
D'Ammando F.
Palma F.D.
Lalla N.D.
Mauro M.D.
Venere L.D.
Dubois R.
Dumora D.
Favuzzi C.
Ferrara E.C.
Franckowiak A.
Fukazawa Y.
Funk S.
Fusco P.
Gargano F.
Gasparrini D.
Giglietto N.
Gill R.
Giordano F.
Giroletti M.
Glanzman T.
Granot J.
Green D.
Grenier I.A.
Grondin M.H.
Guillemot L.
Guiriec S.
Harding A.K.
Hays E.
Horan D.
Imazato F.
Jóhannesson G.
Kamae T.
Kensei S.
Kocevski D.
Kuss M.
Mura G.L.
Larsson S.
Latronico L.
Li J.
Longo F.
Loparco F.
Lovellette M.N.
Lubrano P.
Magill J.D.
Maldera S.
Manfreda A.
Mazziotta M.N.
Michelson P.F.
Mizuno T.
Moiseev A.A.
Monzani M.E.
Moretti E.
Morselli A.
Moskalenko I.V.
Negro M.
Nuss E.
Ojha R.
Omodei N.
Orlando E.
Ormes J.F.
Palatiello M.
Paliya V.S.
Paneque D.
Persic M.
Pesce-Rollins M.
Abstract
We present the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations of the binary neutron star merger event GW170817 and the associated short gamma-ray burst (SGRB) GRB 170817A detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor. The LAT was entering the South Atlantic Anomaly at the time of the LIGO/Virgo trigger (t GW) and therefore cannot place constraints on the existence of high-energy (E > 100 MeV) emission associated with the moment of binary coalescence. We focus instead on constraining high-energy emission on longer timescales. No candidate electromagnetic counterpart was detected by the LAT on timescales of minutes, hours, or days after the LIGO/Virgo detection. The resulting flux upper bound (at 95% C.L.) from the LAT is 4.5 ×10-10 erg cm-2 s-1 in the 0.1-1 GeV range covering a period from t GW + 1153 s to t GW + 2027 s. At the distance of GRB 170817A, this flux upper bound corresponds to a luminosity upper bound of 9.7 ×1043 erg s-1, which is five orders of magnitude less luminous than the only other LAT SGRB with known redshift, GRB 090510. We also discuss the prospects for LAT detection of electromagnetic counterparts to future gravitational-wave events from Advanced LIGO/Virgo in the context of GW170817/GRB 170817A.
Volume
861
Issue
2
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Astronomía
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85050685077
Source
Astrophysical Journal
ISSN of the container
0004637X
Sponsor(s)
The Fermi LAT Collaboration acknowledges generous ongoing support from a number of agencies and institutes that have supported both the development and the operation of the LAT as well as scientific data analysis. These include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Energy in the United States, the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules in France, the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana and the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare in Italy, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in Japan, and the K.A. Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Research Council and the Swedish National Space Board in Sweden. 67 NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, USA. 68 Funded by contract FIRB-2012-RBFR12PM1F from the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR). Additional support for science analysis during the operations phase is gratefully acknowledged from the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica in Italy and the Centre National d’Études Spatiales in France. This work performed in part under DOE Contract DE-AC02-76SF00515.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus