A Search for Kilonovae in the Dark Energy Survey

Understand

The coalescence of a binary neutron star (BNS) pair is expected to produce gravitational waves (GW) and electromagnetic (EM) radiation, both of which may be detectable with currently available instruments.

• We describe a search for a theoretically predicted r-process optical transient from these mergers, dubbed the kilonova (KN), using griz broadband data from the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program (DES-SN).
• Some models predict KNe to be redder, shorter-lived, and dimmer than supernovae (SNe), but at present the event rate of KNe is poorly constrained.
• We simulate observations of KN and SN light curves with the Monte-Carlo simulation code SNANA to optimize selection requirements, determine search efficiency, and predict SN backgrounds.