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Session: Extragalactic Astronomy and Astrophysics

Name: Dr. Giorgos Leloudas (DTU Space)
Coauthors: No coauthors were included.
Type: Oral
Title: Searching for the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational waves
Abstract:

The simultaneous discovery of gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation from the merger of two neutron stars in 17 August 2017 was a landmark event with deep implications in various scientific fields ranging from astrophysics, nuclear physics, relativity and cosmology. This achievement has not been repeated since, highlighting the challenges in responding to gravitational wave events in real time, and searching for faint candidate counterparts in large areas of the sky, like for a needle in a haystack. In this talk, I will present several ongoing efforts to repeat this breakthrough during the O4 observing run (start: May 2023). I will primarily focus on the large European ENGRAVE collaboration, presenting our goals, strategy, modus operandi and (if all goes well) example searches from the first month of O4 (or past cases from O3). I will also present BlackGEM, a new array of telescopes in Chile, on a special mission to hunt for the counterparts of gravitational waves.