Ultra-Violet Counterparts of Gravitational Waves

R. Ridden-Harper, B. Tucker, R. Sharp, J. Gilbert, M. Petkovic

Published 2017-06-19Version 1

With the discovery of gravitational waves (GW), attention has turned towards detecting counterparts to these sources. In discussions on counterpart signatures and multi-messenger follow-up strategies to GW detections, ultra-violet (UV) signatures have largely been neglected, likely due to the lack of UV survey capabilities. In this paper, we examine the UV signatures from merger models for the major GW sources, highlighting the need for further modelling, while presenting requirements and a design for an effective UV survey telescope. Using $u'$-band models as an analogue, we find that a UV survey telescope requires a limiting magnitude of m$_{u'}\rm (AB)\approx 23$ to fully complement the aLIGO range. We show that a network of small, balloon-based UV telescopes with a primary mirror diameter of $20-30$ cm will be capable of covering the aLIGO detection distance from $\sim$60$-$100% for BNS and $\sim$40% for BHNS events. The sensitivity of UV emission to initial conditions suggests that a UV survey telescope would provide a unique dataset, that can act as an effective diagnostic to discriminate between models.