LUMOS Optimizes the Search for Optical Counterparts to Gravitational Waves
When the LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA observatories detect gravitational waves, the immediate challenge is to find their origin in the vast sky. Wide-field telescopes, such as the Zwicky Transient Facility, must scan enormous regions to capture the light from these events. To make this process more effective, an intelligent scheduler is required that decides which areas to observe and when, considering visibility windows and probability of success. 🔭
A Scheduler Based on Mixed-Integer Linear Programming
The LUMOS tool addresses this problem by formulating it as one of maximum coverage. Its main objective is to select and schedule observation fields to maximize the accumulated probability of covering the precise event location. It achieves this while respecting fundamental practical constraints:
Key Constraints Handled by LUMOS:- The exposure time required for each image.
- The total time limit available per night of observation.
- The exact times when each area of the sky is visible from the observatory's location.
Its framework is general and can be adapted to operate with other telescopes, both ground-based and future space missions.
Superior Results in Tests with Real Data
When evaluating its performance with data from 1199 gravitational wave events from the fourth observing run, LUMOS demonstrated much superior performance compared to the reference scheduler gwemopt. The new system achieves an average accumulated probability 84.7% higher of covering the correct location. Its architecture is parallel to that of tools like M4OPT, used for planning space missions, which underscores its versatility and potential to optimize astronomical follow-up from multiple platforms. 🚀
Aspects that Highlight Its Effectiveness:- Maximizes the probability of success within operational limitations.
- Its design allows parallel processing, accelerating planning.
- Provides a concrete and executable observation plan for telescopes.
The Future of Multi-Messenger Follow-Up
As the astronomical community awaits the next gravitational wave alert, algorithms like LUMOS compete to offer the most efficien