_version_ 1866917413998559232
author Keinan, Ido
Arcavi, Iair
Howell, D. Andrew
McCully, Curtis
Pellegrino, Craig
Hasson, Ayelet
Andrews, Moira
Burke, Jamison
Hiramatsu, Daichi
Barnes, Jennifer
Chakrabarti, Sukanya
Farah, Joseph R.
Groot, Paul J.
Hallakoun, Na'ama
Holz, Daniel
Jha, Saurabh W.
Kasen, Daniel
Lidman, Chris
Lundquist, Michael J.
Maoz, Dan
Metzger, Brian D.
Nakar, Ehud
Newsome, Megan
Ni, Yuan Qi
Nitz, Alexander H.
Gonzalez, Estefania Padilla
Piran, Tsvi
Poznanski, Dovi
Ridden-Harper, Ryan
Sand, David J.
Schmidt, Brian P.
Terreran, Giacomo
Tucker, Brad E.
Valenti, Stefano
Wheeler, J. Craig
Wyatt, Samuel
Wynn, Kathryn
author_facet Keinan, Ido
Arcavi, Iair
Howell, D. Andrew
McCully, Curtis
Pellegrino, Craig
Hasson, Ayelet
Andrews, Moira
Burke, Jamison
Hiramatsu, Daichi
Barnes, Jennifer
Chakrabarti, Sukanya
Farah, Joseph R.
Groot, Paul J.
Hallakoun, Na'ama
Holz, Daniel
Jha, Saurabh W.
Kasen, Daniel
Lidman, Chris
Lundquist, Michael J.
Maoz, Dan
Metzger, Brian D.
Nakar, Ehud
Newsome, Megan
Ni, Yuan Qi
Nitz, Alexander H.
Gonzalez, Estefania Padilla
Piran, Tsvi
Poznanski, Dovi
Ridden-Harper, Ryan
Sand, David J.
Schmidt, Brian P.
Terreran, Giacomo
Tucker, Brad E.
Valenti, Stefano
Wheeler, J. Craig
Wyatt, Samuel
Wynn, Kathryn
contents We present a summary of gravitational-wave (GW) follow-up using the Las Cumbres Observatory global network of telescopes during the third (O3) and fourth (O4) observing runs of the GW detectors. As in O2, we implemented the Gehrels et al. 2016 galaxy-targeted strategy. Here we test its efficacy in O3 and O4 and analyze the Las Cumbres Observatory response time and depth for nine GW alerts that showed a possibility of having an electromagnetic counterpart (GW190425, GW190426_152155, S190510g, GW190728_064510, GW190814, S190822c, GW191216_213338, S240422ed and S250206dm). We find that Las Cumbres Observatory is able to begin observations in response to GW alerts within minutes of the alert, with the observations being deep enough to detect possible GW170817-like kilonovae out to a median distance of 250 Mpc. In this sense a global rapid-response network of telescopes like Las Cumbres is an excellent GW follow-up facility. However, the galaxy-targeted follow-up strategy was much less efficient in O3 and O4 than originally predicted, given the larger than assumed GW localizations. We conclude that coordination between various facilities to include both wide-field and rapid-response capabilities is required to achieve efficient and comprehensive follow-up of GW events.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_15129
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Las Cumbres Observatory Gravitational-Wave Follow-up in O3 and O4: Strengths and Weaknesses of a Rapid Response Galaxy Targeted Strategy
Keinan, Ido
Arcavi, Iair
Howell, D. Andrew
McCully, Curtis
Pellegrino, Craig
Hasson, Ayelet
Andrews, Moira
Burke, Jamison
Hiramatsu, Daichi
Barnes, Jennifer
Chakrabarti, Sukanya
Farah, Joseph R.
Groot, Paul J.
Hallakoun, Na'ama
Holz, Daniel
Jha, Saurabh W.
Kasen, Daniel
Lidman, Chris
Lundquist, Michael J.
Maoz, Dan
Metzger, Brian D.
Nakar, Ehud
Newsome, Megan
Ni, Yuan Qi
Nitz, Alexander H.
Gonzalez, Estefania Padilla
Piran, Tsvi
Poznanski, Dovi
Ridden-Harper, Ryan
Sand, David J.
Schmidt, Brian P.
Terreran, Giacomo
Tucker, Brad E.
Valenti, Stefano
Wheeler, J. Craig
Wyatt, Samuel
Wynn, Kathryn
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
We present a summary of gravitational-wave (GW) follow-up using the Las Cumbres Observatory global network of telescopes during the third (O3) and fourth (O4) observing runs of the GW detectors. As in O2, we implemented the Gehrels et al. 2016 galaxy-targeted strategy. Here we test its efficacy in O3 and O4 and analyze the Las Cumbres Observatory response time and depth for nine GW alerts that showed a possibility of having an electromagnetic counterpart (GW190425, GW190426_152155, S190510g, GW190728_064510, GW190814, S190822c, GW191216_213338, S240422ed and S250206dm). We find that Las Cumbres Observatory is able to begin observations in response to GW alerts within minutes of the alert, with the observations being deep enough to detect possible GW170817-like kilonovae out to a median distance of 250 Mpc. In this sense a global rapid-response network of telescopes like Las Cumbres is an excellent GW follow-up facility. However, the galaxy-targeted follow-up strategy was much less efficient in O3 and O4 than originally predicted, given the larger than assumed GW localizations. We conclude that coordination between various facilities to include both wide-field and rapid-response capabilities is required to achieve efficient and comprehensive follow-up of GW events.
title Las Cumbres Observatory Gravitational-Wave Follow-up in O3 and O4: Strengths and Weaknesses of a Rapid Response Galaxy Targeted Strategy
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.15129