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GCN Circular 18497

Subject
LIGO/Virgo G194575: iPTF Optical Transient Candidates
Date
2015-10-27T20:45:32Z (9 years ago)
From
Leo Singer at NASA/GSFC <leo.p.singer@nasa.gov>
L. P. Singer (NASA/GSFC), M. M. Kasliwal (Caltech), R. Ferretti
(Stockholm), S. B. Cenko (NASA/GSFC), T. Barlow (Caltech), Y. Cao
Caltech), R. Laher (IPAC), and J. Rana (IUCAA) report on behalf of the
intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) collaboration:

We have performed tiled observations of LIGO/Virgo G194575 using the
Palomar 48-inch Oschin telescope (P48). The anti-sun probability island
from the BAYESTAR localization was observable from Palomar for most of the
night and weather conditions were good. Starting at 2015-10-23 03:26 UTC,
about 14 hours after the GW trigger, we imaged 160 fields spanning 1114
deg2. We estimate a 17% prior probability that these fields contain the
true location of the source.

Sifting through candidate variable sources using image subtraction by both
our NERSC and IPAC pipelines, and applying standard iPTF vetting
procedures, we flagged the following optical transient candidates for
further follow-up:

   name       RA       Dec     time  mag 
--------- --------- --------- ----- -----
iPTF15dkm 354.32375  -3.53254 03:39 18.66
iPTF15dlc  16.14909  -2.54011 08:15 16.17
iPTF15dld  14.55532  -3.66397 08:15 18.50
iPTF15dlj  19.76198 +10.00134 09:22 18.14
iPTF15dln  14.58195  +7.23471 09:15 18.81
iPTF15dmk  21.22653  +0.61874 10:58 19.60
iPTF15dmn   7.23638 -11.40550 09:07 18.37
iPTF15dmq 353.87809  +6.45032 04:36 18.64
iPTF15dni  21.26675  -4.70845 10:23 17.72
iPTF15dkv   7.77118  -2.65228 07:08 18.84
iPTF15dkn 357.54623  +0.09660 05:34 19.17
iPTF15dkk 357.57171  -3.16660 05:38 19.43
iPTF15dnh  14.90946 -14.19912 10:01 19.45
iPTF15dlb  16.18149  +2.06164 08:25 19.21 = (PS15byt)
iPTF15dmv  21.02204 -10.50270 10:20 19.85
iPTF15dkt   7.20239  -2.70993 07:08 18.05 = (PS15coc)
iPTF15dmt  97.71723 +39.31086 13:01 19.17
iPTF15dmu  22.59586  -4.41018 10:25 19.35
iPTF15dms  98.41981 +37.30400 13:00 19.97
iPTF15dmp  16.28538  -9.74387 09:59 20.05
iPTF15dmf  15.40890  -3.94111 08:15 18.48
iPTF15dmb  18.31767  -6.51451 10:09 19.45
iPTF15dlz  22.25290  -4.36629 10:25 19.22
iPTF15dlv  20.54769  -2.00612 10:26 19.18
iPTF15dlu  22.85842  -8.89533 10:21 19.40
iPTF15dlr  18.56416  +3.32916 10:03 19.14 (= PS1-14aen)
iPTF15dlp  15.49983  +9.50920 09:14 19.11
iPTF15dlg   3.68611 -11.70795 09:05 19.10
iPTF15dla  14.73492  +1.74302 08:25 18.28
iPTF15dkj 359.67964  -7.68101 05:41 19.47
iPTF15dku   2.86523  -6.42730 07:11 17.74 (= LSQ15bjb, PS15cog)
iPTF15dmr   6.96306 -11.47793 09:05 18.82 (= PS15bww)
iPTF15dmj  21.09391  +3.58754 11:02 16.10 (= PS15cku)
iPTF15dls  19.93774  +4.08302 10:03 19.34
iPTF15dlo  18.11055  +5.07488 09:26 19.17
iPTF15dlm  15.73540  +5.54822 09:17 18.90
iPTF15dll  16.22272  +4.76531 09:17 17.63 (= PS15byu)
iPTF15dli  18.13482 +10.49597 09:22 19.68 (= PS15buq)
iPTF15dlk  17.44493 +13.30794 09:21 16.34
iPTF15dko   3.41903  +8.90473 06:51 19.34
iPTF15dma  22.39782 -15.50700 10:16 19.93
iPTF15dlx  22.44977 -15.14902 10:16 19.39

Where relevant, we have given equivalent designations by Pan-STARRS
(Smartt et al., GCN 18451, GCN 18484) and La Silla-QUEST (Rabinowitz et
al., GCN 18473).

The following sources are coincident with galaxies with redshifts
(spectroscopic or photometric) < 0.1: iPTF15dkm, iPTF15dlc, iPTF15dld,
iPTF15dlj, iPTF15dln, iPTF15dmn, iPTF15dni, iPTF15dkv, iPTF15dkn,
iPTF15dkk, iPTF15dnh.

iPTF15dlc may be a variable star superimposed on a nearby galaxy.

iPTF15dni appeared to fade by 0.5 mag in one day, but its position in the
nucleus of its host galaxy makes the host-subtracted photometry
questionable. We will obtain further follow-up to confirm the fading.

iPTF15dmk and iPTF15dmq lacked any plausible host galaxy or quiescent
counterpart in SDSS or archival iPTF images, but showed no significant
intra-night photometric evolution.

iPTF15dlb (our designation of PS15byt) is a known nova in the galaxy IC
1613 (Williams & Darnley, ATel #8061).

The following candidates coincided with galaxies with redshifts > 0.1:
iPTF15dmv, iPTF15dkt.

The following sources had no known redshift but showed unremarkable
photometric evolution: iPTF15dmt, iPTF15dmu, iPTF15dms, iPTF15dmp,
iPTF15dmf, iPTF15dmb, iPTF15dlz, iPTF15dlv, iPTF15dlu, iPTF15dlr,
iPTF15dlp, iPTF15dlg, iPTF15dla, iPTF15dkj.

The following sources were previously known SNe or AGNs: iPTF15dku,
iPTF15dmr, iPTF15dmj, iPTF15dls, iPTF15dlo, iPTF15dlm, iPTF15dll,
iPTF15dli, iPTF15dlk, iPTF15dko.

iPTF15dku is our designation for LSQ15bjb. We report the following
additional photometry:
  -377.25 days: R < 20.21
    +0.71 days: R = 18.62 +/- 0.13
    +1.71 days: R = 18.15 +/- 0.15

In summary, we encourage further follow-up of iPTF15dkm, iPTF15dld,
iPTF15dlj, iPTF15dln, iPTF15dmn, iPTF15dni, iPTF15dkv, iPTF15dkn,
iPTF15dkk, iPTF15dnh, iPTF15dmk, iPTF15dmq.

Positions are stated in the ICRS. Times are in UTC. Magnitudes are based
on image subtraction; they are in the Mould R filter and in the AB system,
calibrated with respect to point sources in SDSS as described in Ofek et
al. (2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/664065).

The diagram https://gracedb.ligo.org/apiweb/events/G194575/files/iptf.pdf
shows the locations of our candidates and the P48 fields in relation to
the LIGO/Virgo localization.
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