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The distance to NGC 4993 : the host galaxy of the gravitational-wave event GW170817

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Hjorth, Jens, Levan, Andrew J., Tanvir, Nial R., Lyman, J. D., Wojtak, Radosław, Schrøder, Sophie L., Mandel, Ilya, Gall, Christa and Bruun, Sofie H. (2017) The distance to NGC 4993 : the host galaxy of the gravitational-wave event GW170817. The Astrophysical Journal, 848 (2). L31. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa9110

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aa9110

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Abstract

The historic detection of gravitational waves from a binary neutron star merger (GW170817) and its electromagnetic counterpart led to the first accurate (sub-arcsecond) localization of a gravitational-wave event. The transient was found to be ∼1000 from the nucleus of the S0 galaxy NGC 4993. We report here the luminosity distance to this galaxy using two independent methods. (1) Based on our MUSE/VLT measurement of the heliocentric redshift (zhelio = 0.009783±0.000023) we infer the systemic recession velocity of the NGC 4993 group of galaxies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) frame to be vCMB = 3231±53 km s−1 . Using constrained cosmological simulations we estimate the line-of-sight peculiar velocity to be vpec = 307±230 km s−1 , resulting in a cosmic velocity of vcosmic = 2924±236 km s−1 (zcosmic = 0.00980±0.00079) and a distance of Dz = 40.4±3.4 Mpc assuming a local Hubble constant of H0 = 73.24± 1.74 km s−1Mpc−1 . (2) Using Hubble Space Telescope measurements of the effective radius (15. 005±1. 005) and contained intensity and MUSE/VLT measurements of the velocity dispersion, we place NGC 4993 on the Fundamental Plane (FP) of E and S0 galaxies. Comparing to a frame of 10 clusters containing 226 galaxies, this yields a distance estimate of DFP = 44.0±7.5 Mpc. The combined redshift and FP distance is DNGC4993 = 41.0±3.1 Mpc. This ‘electromagnetic’ distance estimate is consistent with the independent measurement of the distance to GW170817 as obtained from the gravitational-wave signal (DGW = 43.8 +2.9 −6.9 Mpc) and confirms that GW170817 occurred in NGC 4993.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: Q Science > QB Astronomy
Divisions: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Physics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Gravitational waves -- Measurement, Neutron stars, Red shift, Galaxies -- Measurement
Journal or Publication Title: The Astrophysical Journal
Publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing, Inc.
ISSN: 0004-637X
Official Date: 16 October 2017
Dates:
DateEvent
16 October 2017Published
3 October 2017Accepted
Volume: 848
Number: 2
Article Number: L31
DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa9110
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Restricted or Subscription Access
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant:
Project/Grant IDRIOXX Funder NameFunder ID
16599Villum Fondenhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100008398
UNSPECIFIEDScience and Technology Facilities Councilhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000271
725246H2020 European Research Councilhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010663
ST/P000495/1Science and Technology Facilities Councilhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000271
UNSPECIFIEDCarlsbergfondethttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002808

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