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

Publication ,  Journal Article
Tucker, D; Wiesner, M; Allam, S; Soares-Santos, M; Bom, CD; Butner, M; Garcia, A; Morgan, R; Olivares, F; Palmese, A; Santana-Silva, L; Lin, H ...
November 10, 2021

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 DECam on the CTIO Blanco 4-m telescope. Target of opportunity interrupts were issued on 8 separate nights to observe 11 candidates using the SOAR Goodman 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 the SOAR Goodman spectrograph, the analysis of our spectra, our spectroscopic typing methodology, and our resultant conclusion that none of the candidates corresponded to the black hole-neutron star merger but were all instead other transient events. 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 season 4 (O4) and beyond.

Duke Scholars

Publication Date

November 10, 2021
 

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Tucker, D., Wiesner, M., Allam, S., Soares-Santos, M., Bom, C. D., Butner, M., … Zhang, Y. (2021). SOAR/Goodman Spectroscopic Assessment of Candidate Counterparts of the LIGO--Virgo Event GW190814.
Tucker, Douglas, Matthew Wiesner, Sahar Allam, Marcelle Soares-Santos, Clecio de Bom, Melissa Butner, Alyssa Garcia, et al. “SOAR/Goodman Spectroscopic Assessment of Candidate Counterparts of the LIGO--Virgo Event GW190814,” November 10, 2021.
Tucker D, Wiesner M, Allam S, Soares-Santos M, Bom CD, Butner M, et al. SOAR/Goodman Spectroscopic Assessment of Candidate Counterparts of the LIGO--Virgo Event GW190814. 2021 Nov 10;
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Publication Date

November 10, 2021