2023/05/22 by Wenxiong Li, Li, Wenxiong, Ehud Nakar +16
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2305.12974
openalex publication_date 2023/05/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
We search the archival Zwicky Transient Facility public survey for rapidly evolving transient (RET) candidates based on well-defined criteria between 2018 May and 2021 December. The search yielded 19 bona-fide RET candidates, corresponding to a discovery rate of ∼ 5.2 events per year. Even with a Galactic latitude cut of 20^∘, 8 of the 19 events (∼ 42%) are Galactic, including one with a light-curve shape closely resembling that of the GW170817 kilonova (KN). An additional event is a nova in M31. Four out of the 19 events (∼ 21%) are confirmed extragalactic RETs (one confirmed here for the first time) and the origin of 6 additional events cannot be determined. We did not find any extragalactic events resembling the GW170817 KN, from which we obtain an upper limit on the volumetric rate of GW170817-like KNe of R ≤ 2400 Gpc-3 yr-1 (95% confidence). These results can be used for quantifying contaminants to RET searches in transient alert streams, specifically when searching for kilonovae independently of gravitational-wave and gamma-ray-burst triggers.
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