Abstract
We perform a statistical standard siren analysis of GW170817. Our analysis does not utilize knowledge of NGC 4993 as the unique host galaxy of the optical counterpart to GW170817. Instead, we consider each galaxy within the GW170817 localization region as a potential host; combining the redshifts from all of the galaxies with the distance estimate from GW170817 provides an estimate of the Hubble constant, H 0 . Considering all galaxies brighter than as equally likely to host a binary neutron star merger, we find km s -1 Mpc -1 (maximum a posteriori and 68.3% highest density posterior interval; assuming a flat H 0 prior in the range km s -1 Mpc -1 ). We explore the dependence of our results on the thresholds by which galaxies are included in our sample, and we show that weighting the host galaxies by stellar mass or star formation rate provides entirely consistent results with potentially tighter constraints. By applying the method to simulated gravitational-wave events and a realistic galaxy catalog we show that, because of the small localization volume, this statistical standard siren analysis of GW170817 provides an unusually informative (top 10%) constraint. Under optimistic assumptions for galaxy completeness and redshift uncertainty, we find that dark binary neutron star measurements of H 0 will converge as , where N is the number of sources. While these statistical estimates are inferior to the value from the counterpart standard siren measurement utilizing NGC 4993 as the unique host, km s -1 Mpc -1 (determined from the same publicly available data), our analysis is a proof-of-principle demonstration of the statistical approach first proposed by Bernard Schutz over 30 yr ago.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | L13 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-1 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Astrophysical Journal Letters |
| Volume | 871 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 20 Jan 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 22 Jan 2019 |
Funding
1Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA 2SUPA, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK 3University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA 4Nikhef, Science Park 105, 1098 XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands 5Università di Salerno, Fisciano, I-84084 Salerno, Italy 6INFN, Sezione di Napoli, Complesso Universitario di Monte S.Angelo, I-80126 Napoli, Italy 7Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), I-67100 L’Aquila, Italy 8INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, I-67100 Assergi, Italy 9Università di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa, Italy 10INFN, Sezione di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa, Italy 11Departamento de Astronomía y Astrofísica, Universitat de València, E-46100 Burjassot, València, Spain 12Laboratoire des Matériaux Avancés (LMA), CNRS/IN2P3, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France 13LAL, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91898 Orsay, France 14APC, AstroParticule et Cosmologie, Université Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/Irfu, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, F-75205 Paris Cedex 13, France 15European Gravitational Observatory (EGO), I-56021 Cascina, Pisa, Italy 16Università di Roma Tor Vergata, I-00133 Roma, Italy 17INFN, Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata, I-00133 Roma, Italy 18INFN, Sezione di Roma, I-00185 Roma, Italy 19Laboratoire d’Annecy de Physique des Particules (LAPP), Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS/IN2P3, F-74941 Annecy, France 20Università di Perugia, I-06123 Perugia, Italy 21INFN, Sezione di Perugia, I-06123 Perugia, Italy 22Wigner RCP, RMKI, H-1121 Budapest, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 29-33, Hungary 23Università di Camerino, Dipartimento di Fisica, I-62032 Camerino, Italy 24Università di Padova, Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, I-35131 Padova, Italy 25INFN, Sezione di Padova, I-35131 Padova, Italy 26Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, 00-716, Warsaw, Poland 27Theoretisch-Physikalisches Institut, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, D-07743 Jena, Germany 28INFN, Sezione di Milano Bicocca, Gruppo Collegato di Parma, I-43124 Parma, Italy 29INFN, Sezione di Genova, I-16146 Genova, Italy 30LIGO Livingston Observatory, Livingston, LA 70754, USA 31Department of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands 32Artemis, Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire Côte d’Azur, CNRS, CS 34229, F-06304 Nice Cedex 4, France 33Univ Rennes, CNRS, Institut FOTON—UMR6082, F-3500 Rennes, France 34Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, ENS-Université PSL, Collège de France, F-75005 Paris, France 35Università degli Studi di Urbino “Carlo Bo,” I-61029 Urbino, Italy 36INFN, Sezione di Firenze, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy 37Astronomical Observatory Warsaw University, 00-478 Warsaw, Poland 38VU University Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands 39Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France 40Università di Napoli “Federico II,” Complesso Universitario di Monte S.Angelo, I-80126 Napoli, Italy 41Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Genova, I-16146 Genova, Italy 42Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche “Enrico Fermi”, I-00184 Roma, Italyrico Fermi, I-00184 Roma, Italy 43Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H8, Canada 44University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA 45INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, I-35122 Padova, Italy 46INFN, Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications, I-38123 Povo, Trento, Italy 47Departamento de Matemáticas, Universitat de València, E-46100 Burjassot, València, Spain 48LIGO, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA 49MTA-ELTE Astrophysics Research Group, Institute of Physics, Eötvös University, Budapest 1117, Hungary 50Dipartimento di Scienze Matematiche, Fisiche e Informatiche, Università di Parma, I-43124 Parma, Italy 51California State University, Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA 52Università di Trento, Dipartimento di Fisica, I-38123 Povo, Trento, Italy 53Università di Roma “La Sapienza,” I-00185 Roma, Italy 54University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK 55National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan 56Observatori Astronòmic, Universitat de València, E-46980 Paterna, València, Spain 57School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, UK 58NCSA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA 59INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, I-80131, Napoli, Italy 60GRAPPA, Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy and Institute of High-Energy Physics, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands 61Delta Institute for Theoretical Physics, Science Park 904, 1090 GL Amsterdam, The Netherlands 62University of Białystok, 15-424 Białystok, Poland 63LIGO, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA 64Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands 65NCBJ, 05-400 Świerk-Otwock, Poland 66Institute of Mathematics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 00656 Warsaw, Poland 67Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USA 68The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong 69Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, I-00146 Roma, Italy 70INFN, Sezione di Roma Tre, I-00146 Roma, Italy 71ESPCI, CNRS, F-75005 Paris, France 72Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK 73University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, UK 74The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK 75Centre Scientifique de Monaco, 8 quai Antoine Ier, MC-98000, Monaco 76RESCEU, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan 77INFN Sezione di Torino, Via P. Giuria 1, I-10125 Torino, Italy 78Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, F-91440 Bures-sur-Yvette, France 79Université de Lyon, F-69361 Lyon, France 80Janusz Gil Institute of Astronomy, University of Zielona Góra, 65-265 Zielona Góra, Poland 81Max Planck Institute for Gravitationalphysik (Albert Einstein Institute), D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany We thank Chihway Chang, Alison Coil, and Risa Wechsler for valuable discussions about galaxy properties. M.F. was supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program under grant DGE-1746045. M.F. and D.E.H. were supported by NSF grant PHY-1708081. They were also supported by the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago through NSF grant PHY-1125897 and an endowment from the Kavli Foundation. D.E.H. also gratefully acknowledges support from a Marion and Stuart Rice Award. The authors acknowledge the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, for the construction and operation of the Virgo detector and the creation and support of the EGO consortium. We are grateful to the LIGO and Virgo collaborations for releasing sky map data for GW170817 at dcc.ligo.org/LIGO-P1800061/public. This work has made use of CosmoHub. CosmoHub has been developed by the Port d’Informació Cientfica (PIC), maintained through a collaboration of the Institut de Fsica d’Altes Energies (IFAE) and the Centro de Investigaciones Energticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), and was partially funded by the “Plan Estatal de Investigación Cientfica y Tcnica y de Innovación” program of the Spanish government. We also acknowledge the First Two Years data release (https://www. ligo.org/scientists/first2years/).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Institut de Fsica d’Altes Energies | |
| Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago | PHY-1125897 |
| Plan Estatal de Investigación Cientfica y Tcnica y de Innovación | |
| National Science Foundation | 1708081, PHY-1708081, 1746045, DGE-1746045, 1125897 |
| Kavli Foundation | |
| Centre Eau Terre Environnement, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique | |
| Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek | |
| Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare | |
| Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique | |
| Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas | |
| Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare |
Keywords
- distance scale
- gravitational waves