Search for GeV Gamma-Ray Counterparts of Gravitational Wave Events by CALET

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https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aad18f

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https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aad18f
 http://hdl.handle.net/11603/30278

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UMBC Center for Space Sciences and Technology (CSST) / Center for Research and Exploration in Space Sciences & Technology II (CRSST II)
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UMBC Physics Department

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Author/Creator ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9489-1515
 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2916-6955
 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9690-9352

Date

2018-08-20

Type of Work

journal articles
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Citation of Original Publication

Adriani, O., Y. Akaike, K. Asano, Y. Asaoka, M. G. Bagliesi, E. Berti, G. Bigongiari, et al. “Search for GeV Gamma-Ray Counterparts of Gravitational Wave Events by CALET.” The Astrophysical Journal 863, no. 2 (August 2018): 160. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aad18f.

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This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
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Abstract

We present the results of searches for gamma-ray counterparts of the LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave events using CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) observations. The main instrument of CALET, CALorimeter (CAL), observes gamma-rays from ∼1 GeV up to 10 TeV with a field of view (FOV) of nearly 2 sr. In addition, the CALET gamma-ray burst monitor views ∼3 sr and ∼2π sr of the sky in the 7 keV–1 MeV and the 40 keV–20 MeV bands, respectively, by using two different crystal scintillators. The CALET observations on the International Space Station started in 2015 October, and here we report analyses of events associated with the following gravitational wave events: GW151226, GW170104, GW170608, GW170814, and GW170817. Although only upper limits on gamma-ray emission are obtained, they correspond to a luminosity of 10⁴⁹ ∼ 10⁵³ erg s−¹ in the GeV energy band depending on the distance and the assumed time duration of each event, which is approximately on the order of luminosity of typical short gamma-ray bursts. This implies that there will be a favorable opportunity to detect high-energy gamma-ray emission in further observations if additional gravitational wave events with favorable geometry will occur within our FOV. We also show the sensitivity of CALET for gamma-ray transient events, which is on the order of 10−⁷ erg cm−² s−¹ for an observation of 100 s in duration.