Onorbit Hookup of MAXI And NICER for exploring and localizing X-ray couterparts of gravitational wave sources

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K05402
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Astronomy
• Research Institution: Aoyama Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: Serino Motoko 青山学院大学, 理工学部, 助教 (70415199)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: X線観測 / 重力波 / 国際宇宙ステーション

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We aimed to detect X-ray from gravitational wave sources or unknown astronomical objects and localize them precisely by follow-up observations to know the nature of the objects.We use Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) for catching signals from unknown objects and use Neutron Star Interior Composition ExploreR (NICER) for following up them. Both of them are on the International Space Station (ISS). We developed the software to connect them in ISS and tested it to know how we can improve it for actual operation.
We also carried out ground based cooperation, which worked well.
Although the X-ray counterpart of the gravitational wave source was too weak to detect with MAXI, we obtained the upper limit of the flux of the counterpart in X-ray.

Free Research Field

X線天文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

研究期間中に中性子星合体による重力波が初めて観測され、同時にその対応天体が発見された。MAXIは全天の85%の領域を90分毎に観測できるという強みを生かし、他のX線望遠鏡に先駆けて対応天体の位置を観測し、X線では明るい天体が現れなかったことを確認した。重力波研究は、この年ノーベル賞を受賞しており、学術的・社会的に最も話題になっているテーマである。重力波に伴う電磁波の観測は再度のノーベル賞の価値があるとも言われており、X線での同時観測の結果を提供した意味は大きい。