_version_ 1866918257565368320
author Kosogorov, Nikita
Hallinan, Gregg
Law, Casey
Hickish, Jack
Dowell, Jayce
Mooley, Kunal P.
Anderson, Marin M.
Bowman, Judd D.
Byrne, Ruby
Catha, Morgan
Chen, Bin
Chen, Xingyao
Chhabra, Sherry
D'Addario, Larry
Davis, Ivey
Elder, Katherine
Gary, Dale
Harnach, Charlie
Hellbourg, Greg
Hobbs, Rick
Hodge, David
Hodges, Mark
Huang, Yuping
Isella, Andrea
Jacobs, Daniel C.
Kemby, Ghislain
Klinefelter, John T.
Kolopanis, Matthew
Lamb, James
Mahesh, Nivedita
Mondal, Surajit
O'Donnell, Brian
Plant, Kathryn
Posner, Corey
Powell, Travis
Prayag, Vinand
Rizo, Andres
Romero-Wolf, Andrew
Shi, Jun
Taylor, Greg
Trim, Jordan
Virgin, Mike
Vydula, Akshatha
Weinreb, Sandy
White, Scott
Woody, David
Yu, Sijie
Zentmeyer, Thomas
Zhang, Peijin
author_facet Kosogorov, Nikita
Hallinan, Gregg
Law, Casey
Hickish, Jack
Dowell, Jayce
Mooley, Kunal P.
Anderson, Marin M.
Bowman, Judd D.
Byrne, Ruby
Catha, Morgan
Chen, Bin
Chen, Xingyao
Chhabra, Sherry
D'Addario, Larry
Davis, Ivey
Elder, Katherine
Gary, Dale
Harnach, Charlie
Hellbourg, Greg
Hobbs, Rick
Hodge, David
Hodges, Mark
Huang, Yuping
Isella, Andrea
Jacobs, Daniel C.
Kemby, Ghislain
Klinefelter, John T.
Kolopanis, Matthew
Lamb, James
Mahesh, Nivedita
Mondal, Surajit
O'Donnell, Brian
Plant, Kathryn
Posner, Corey
Powell, Travis
Prayag, Vinand
Rizo, Andres
Romero-Wolf, Andrew
Shi, Jun
Taylor, Greg
Trim, Jordan
Virgin, Mike
Vydula, Akshatha
Weinreb, Sandy
White, Scott
Woody, David
Yu, Sijie
Zentmeyer, Thomas
Zhang, Peijin
contents We report on a search for prompt, low-frequency radio emission from the gravitational-wave (GW) merger S250206dm using the Owens Valley Radio Observatory Long Wavelength Array (OVRO-LWA). Early alerts favored a neutron-star-containing merger, making this a compelling target. Motivated by theoretical predictions of coherent radio bursts from mergers involving a neutron star, we utilized the OVRO-LWA Time Machine system to analyze voltage data recorded around the time of the event. The Time Machine is a two-stage voltage buffer and processing pipeline that continuously buffers raw data from all antennas across the array's nearly full-hemisphere instantaneous field of view, enabling retrospective beamforming, dedispersion, and fast-transient candidate identification. For this event, we analyzed a 30-minute interval beginning 3.5 minutes after the merger, which included two minutes of pre-alert data recovered by the ring buffer. We searched the 50% localization probability region with millisecond time resolution in the 69-86 MHz frequency band. No radio counterpart was detected above a 7-sigma fluence detection threshold of ~150 Jy ms. Using Bayesian analysis, we place a 95% confidence upper limit on the source luminosity of L95 = 4 x 10^41 erg s^-1. These constraints start to probe the bright end of the coherent-emission parameter space predicted by jet-ISM shock processes, magnetar and blitzar-like mechanisms, and recent simulation-based scenarios for neutron-star-containing mergers. This study presents the first sensitive, large-area, millisecond-timescale search for prompt low-frequency radio emission from a GW merger with the OVRO-LWA, establishing a framework in which about ten additional events will yield stringent population-level constraints.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_18543
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Searches for Prompt Low-Frequency Radio Counterparts to Gravitational Wave Event S250206dm with the OVRO-LWA Time Machine
Kosogorov, Nikita
Hallinan, Gregg
Law, Casey
Hickish, Jack
Dowell, Jayce
Mooley, Kunal P.
Anderson, Marin M.
Bowman, Judd D.
Byrne, Ruby
Catha, Morgan
Chen, Bin
Chen, Xingyao
Chhabra, Sherry
D'Addario, Larry
Davis, Ivey
Elder, Katherine
Gary, Dale
Harnach, Charlie
Hellbourg, Greg
Hobbs, Rick
Hodge, David
Hodges, Mark
Huang, Yuping
Isella, Andrea
Jacobs, Daniel C.
Kemby, Ghislain
Klinefelter, John T.
Kolopanis, Matthew
Lamb, James
Mahesh, Nivedita
Mondal, Surajit
O'Donnell, Brian
Plant, Kathryn
Posner, Corey
Powell, Travis
Prayag, Vinand
Rizo, Andres
Romero-Wolf, Andrew
Shi, Jun
Taylor, Greg
Trim, Jordan
Virgin, Mike
Vydula, Akshatha
Weinreb, Sandy
White, Scott
Woody, David
Yu, Sijie
Zentmeyer, Thomas
Zhang, Peijin
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
We report on a search for prompt, low-frequency radio emission from the gravitational-wave (GW) merger S250206dm using the Owens Valley Radio Observatory Long Wavelength Array (OVRO-LWA). Early alerts favored a neutron-star-containing merger, making this a compelling target. Motivated by theoretical predictions of coherent radio bursts from mergers involving a neutron star, we utilized the OVRO-LWA Time Machine system to analyze voltage data recorded around the time of the event. The Time Machine is a two-stage voltage buffer and processing pipeline that continuously buffers raw data from all antennas across the array's nearly full-hemisphere instantaneous field of view, enabling retrospective beamforming, dedispersion, and fast-transient candidate identification. For this event, we analyzed a 30-minute interval beginning 3.5 minutes after the merger, which included two minutes of pre-alert data recovered by the ring buffer. We searched the 50% localization probability region with millisecond time resolution in the 69-86 MHz frequency band. No radio counterpart was detected above a 7-sigma fluence detection threshold of ~150 Jy ms. Using Bayesian analysis, we place a 95% confidence upper limit on the source luminosity of L95 = 4 x 10^41 erg s^-1. These constraints start to probe the bright end of the coherent-emission parameter space predicted by jet-ISM shock processes, magnetar and blitzar-like mechanisms, and recent simulation-based scenarios for neutron-star-containing mergers. This study presents the first sensitive, large-area, millisecond-timescale search for prompt low-frequency radio emission from a GW merger with the OVRO-LWA, establishing a framework in which about ten additional events will yield stringent population-level constraints.
title Searches for Prompt Low-Frequency Radio Counterparts to Gravitational Wave Event S250206dm with the OVRO-LWA Time Machine
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.18543