Events

Event Information:

• Tue

  11

  Feb

  2020

  Colloquium: Electromagnetic Follow-Up of Gravitational Wave Events in the Next Decade

  4:00 pmLewis Hall 101

  Philip Cowperthwaite
  Carnegie Observatory
  Carnegie Institution for Science

  Electromagnetic Follow-Up of Gravitational Wave Events in the Next Decade

  The Advanced LIGO and Virgo (ALV) gravitational wave interferometers began their third observing run (O3) in April of 2019. Since then they have so far reported the detection of over 30 gravitational wave candidates. While the majority of detected events are likely to be the merger of two stellar mass black holes, several events have a better than 50% chance of containing at least one neutron star making them enticing targets for electromagnetic follow-up. In this talk, I will review the state of follow-up efforts and discuss the observational campaigns for two of these events: S190425z and S190814bv. To date, no credible electromagnetic counterparts have been identified for any of these events. Nevertheless, studying these follow-up efforts can provide valuable insight into the difficulties of obtaining joint detections of gravitational waves and electromagnetic signals. I will discuss how we can tackle these challenges with the next-generation of observational facilities set to come online in the 2020s.