The JAGWAR Prowls LIGO/Virgo O3 Paper I: Radio Search of a Possible Multi-Messenger Counterpart of the Binary Black Hole Merger Candidate S191216ap. (arXiv:2010.15042v1 [astro-ph.HE])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bhakta_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">D. Bhakta</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Mooley_K/0/1/0/all/0/1">K. P. Mooley</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Corsi_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A. Corsi</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Balasubramanian_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A. Balasubramanian</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Dobie_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">D. Dobie</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Frail_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">D. A. Frail</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Hallinan_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">G. Hallinan</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kaplan_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">D. L. Kaplan</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Myers_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">S. T. Myers</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Singer_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">L. P. Singer</a>
We present a sensitive search with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA)
for the radio counterpart of the gravitational wave candidate S191216ap,
classified as a binary black hole merger, and suggested to be a possible
multi-messenger event, based on the detection of a high energy neutrino and a
TeV photon. We carried out a blind search at C band (4–8 GHz) over 0.3 deg$^2$
of the gamma-ray counterpart of S191216ap reported by the High-Altitude Water
Cherenkov Observatory (HAWC). Our search, spanning three epochs over 130 days
post-merger and having mean source-detection threshold of 75$mu$Jy/beam
(4$sigma$), yielded 5 variable sources associated with AGN activity and no
definitive counterpart of S191216ap. We find $<$2% ($3.0pm1.3$%) of the
persistent radio sources at 6 GHz to be variable on a timescale of $<$1 week
(week–months), consistent with previous radio variability studies. Our
4$sigma$ radio luminosity upper limit of $sim$1.2$times{10}^{28}$ erg
s$^{-1}$ Hz$^{-1}$ on the afterglow of S191216ap, within the HAWC error region,
is 5–10 times deeper than previous BBH radio afterglow searches. Comparing
this upper limit with theoretical expectations given by citeauthor{Perna2019}
for putative jets launched by BBH mergers, for on-axis jets having energy
$simeq10^{49}$ erg, we can rule out jet opening angles $lesssim$20 degrees
(assuming that the counterpart lies within the 1$sigma$ HAWC region that we
observed).
We present a sensitive search with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA)
for the radio counterpart of the gravitational wave candidate S191216ap,
classified as a binary black hole merger, and suggested to be a possible
multi-messenger event, based on the detection of a high energy neutrino and a
TeV photon. We carried out a blind search at C band (4–8 GHz) over 0.3 deg$^2$
of the gamma-ray counterpart of S191216ap reported by the High-Altitude Water
Cherenkov Observatory (HAWC). Our search, spanning three epochs over 130 days
post-merger and having mean source-detection threshold of 75$mu$Jy/beam
(4$sigma$), yielded 5 variable sources associated with AGN activity and no
definitive counterpart of S191216ap. We find $<$2% ($3.0pm1.3$%) of the
persistent radio sources at 6 GHz to be variable on a timescale of $<$1 week
(week–months), consistent with previous radio variability studies. Our
4$sigma$ radio luminosity upper limit of $sim$1.2$times{10}^{28}$ erg
s$^{-1}$ Hz$^{-1}$ on the afterglow of S191216ap, within the HAWC error region,
is 5–10 times deeper than previous BBH radio afterglow searches. Comparing
this upper limit with theoretical expectations given by citeauthor{Perna2019}
for putative jets launched by BBH mergers, for on-axis jets having energy
$simeq10^{49}$ erg, we can rule out jet opening angles $lesssim$20 degrees
(assuming that the counterpart lies within the 1$sigma$ HAWC region that we
observed).
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