Swift Pointing and Gravitational-Wave Bursts from Gamma-Ray Burst Events
نویسندگان
چکیده
The currently accepted model for gamma-ray burst phenomena involves the violent formation of a rapidly rotating solar-mass black hole. Gravitational waves should be associated with the black-hole formation, and their detection would permit this model to be tested. Even upper limits on the gravitational-wave strength associated with gammaray bursts could constrain the gamma-ray burst model. This requires joint observations of gamma-ray burst events with gravitational and gamma-ray detectors. Here we examine how the quality of an upper limit on the gravitational-wave strength associated with gamma-ray bursts depends on the relative orientation of the gamma-ray-burst and gravitational-wave detectors, and apply our results to the particular case of the Swift Burst-Alert Telescope (BAT) and the LIGO gravitational-wave detectors. A result of this investigation is a sciencebased “figure of merit” that can be used, together with other mission constraints, to optimize the pointing of the Swift telescope for the detection of gravitational waves associated with gamma-ray bursts.
منابع مشابه
Swift Pointing and the Association Between Gamma-Ray Bursts and Gravitational-Wave Bursts
The currently accepted model for gamma-ray burst phenomena involves the violent formation of a rapidly rotating solar mass black hole. Gravitational waves should be associated with the black-hole formation, and their detection would permit this model to be tested, the black hole progenitor (e.g., coalescing binary or collapsing stellar core) identified, and the origin of the gamma rays (within ...
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