Harvesting BAT-GUANO with NITRATES (Non-Imaging Transient Reconstruction And TEmporal Search): Detecting and localizing the faintest GRBs with a likelihood framework

The detection of the gravitational wave counterpart GRB 170817A, underluminous compared to the cosmological GRB population by a factor of 10,000, motivates significant effort in detecting and localizing a dim, nearby, and slightly off-axis population of short GRBs. Swift/BAT is the most sensitive GRB detector in operation, and the only one that regularly localizes GRBs to arcminute precision, critical to rapid followup studies. However, the utility of BAT in targeted sub-threshold searches had been historically curtailed by the unavailability of the necessary raw data for analysis. The new availability of time-tagged event (TTE) data from the GUANO system (arXiv:2005.01751), motivates renewed focus on developing sensitive targeted search analysis techniques to maximally exploit these data. While computationally cheap, we show that the typical coded-mask deconvolution imaging is limited in its sensitivity due to several factors. We formalize a maximum likelihood framework for the analysis of BAT data wherein signals are forward modelled through the full instrument response, and -- coupled with the development of new response models -- demonstrate its superior sensitivity to typical imaging via archival comparisons, injection campaigns, and, after implementing as a targeted search, a large number of low-latency GRB discoveries and confirmed arcminute localizations to date. We also demonstrate independent localization of some out-of-FOV GRBs for the first time. NITRATES's increased sensitivity boosts the discovery rate of GRB 170817A-like events in BAT by a factor of at least $3-4$x, along with enabling joint analyses and searches with other GRB, GW, neutrino, and FRB instruments. We provide public access to the response functions and search pipeline code.Comment: Submitted to AAS Journals. 46 pages, 34 figures. Comments and feedback are welcome. The codebase and instrument responses can be found at https://github.com/Swift-BAT/NITRATE

The Gravitational Wave Treasure Map: A Tool to Coordinate, Visualize, and Assess the Electromagnetic Follow-Up of Gravitational Wave Events

We present the Gravitational Wave Treasure Map, a tool to coordinate, visualize, and assess the electromagnetic follow-up of gravitational wave (GW) events. With typical GW localization regions of hundreds to thousands of square degrees and dozens of active follow-up groups, the pursuit of electromagnetic (EM) counterparts is a challenging endeavor, but the scientific payoff for early discovery of any counterpart is clear. With this tool, we provide a website and API interface that allows users to easily see where other groups have searched and better inform their own follow-up search efforts. A strong community of Treasure Map users will increase the overall efficiency of EM counterpart searches and will play a fundamental role in the future of multi-messenger astronomy.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, Accepted to Ap

Scheduling Discovery in the 2020s

The 2020s will be the most data-rich decade of astronomy in history. As the scale and complexity of our surveys increase, the problem of scheduling becomes more critical. We must develop high-quality scheduling approaches, implement them as open-source software, and begin linking the typically separate stages of observation and data analysis

Scheduling Discovery in the 2020s

The 2020s will be the most data-rich decade of astronomy in history. As the scale and complexity of our surveys increase, the problem of scheduling becomes more critical. We must develop high-quality scheduling approaches, implement them as open-source software, and begin linking the typically separate stages of observation and data analysis