<p>I suppose there are two things to consider. (1) Were gravitational wave  (GW) observatories operating when the transient occurred. (2) Was the nature of the event that produced the transient a strong source of GWs and could they be detected at that distance.</p>
<p>The transient was detected on 12 October 2020. It was deduced to be at redshift z=0.24, correspinding to a luminosity distance luminosity distance of 1.26 Gpc.</p>
<p>The LIGO/VIRGO O3 observing run ended on 27 March 2020 and so it was not possible to have detected this transient as a GW source in October 2020.</p>
<p>The nature of the transient suggested it was one of a small class of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_2018cow" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SN2018cow</a> events. It isn't yet clear what these events are. They might be some sort of supernovae or they might be due to the tidal disruption of a white dwarf by a black hole. Neither of these would be particularly strong GW sources, compared to merging black holes or even merging neutron stars.</p>
<p>Since the horizon to detect merging neutron stars is about 200 Mpc (<a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2020.609460/full" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Pian 2021</a>) with LIGO/VIRGO, then I doubt this event could have produced a detectable GW signal from a distance of 1.26 Gpc even if LIGO/VIRGO had been operating.</p>

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2021-11-27T17:08:22.957Z
2021-11-28T15:36:00.953Z
2021-11-28T15:36:00.953Z
ProfRob
<p>I have a question re аrXiv preprint article:
<a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2110.05490.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://arxiv.org/pdf/2110.05490.pdf</a></p>
<p>It describes the detection of a space event, dubbed ZTF20acigmel, which was a massive explosion in a galaxy located several billion light-years from Earth.
It was recorded in October 2020, then it reached its maximum brightness, but disappeared within a month.</p>
<p>Should such event generate gravitational wave and if &quot;yes&quot;, why it wasn't registered by LIGO/Virgo?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-27T11:35:29.717Z
LIGO/Virgo is only sensitive to particular timescales and frequencies of gravitational waves -- e.g., those due to the final stages of mergers of stellar-mass binary black holes and/or neutron stars. Events other than those are unlikely to be detectd.
Peter Erwin
<black-hole>
The question regarding ZTF20acigmel space event detection
Alex
# The question regarding ZTF20acigmel space event detection

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-11-02)

I have a question re аrXiv preprint article:
<https://arxiv.org/pdf/2110.05490.pdf>

It describes the detection of a space event, dubbed ZTF20acigmel, which was a massive explosion in a galaxy located several billion light-years from Earth.
It was recorded in October 2020, then it reached its maximum brightness, but disappeared within a month.

Should such event generate gravitational wave and if "yes", why it wasn't registered by LIGO/Virgo?

**Tags:** black-hole

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: LIGO/Virgo is only sensitive to particular timescales and frequencies of gravitational waves -- e.g., those due to the final stages of mergers of stellar-mass binary black holes and/or neutron stars. Events other than those are unlikely to be detectd.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-11-27. Score: 3

I suppose there are two things to consider. (1) Were gravitational wave (GW) observatories operating when the transient occurred. (2) Was the nature of the event that produced the transient a strong source of GWs and could they be detected at that distance.

The transient was detected on 12 October 2020. It was deduced to be at redshift z=0.24, correspinding to a luminosity distance luminosity distance of 1.26 Gpc.

The LIGO/VIRGO O3 observing run ended on 27 March 2020 and so it was not possible to have detected this transient as a GW source in October 2020.

The nature of the transient suggested it was one of a small class of [SN2018cow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_2018cow) events. It isn't yet clear what these events are. They might be some sort of supernovae or they might be due to the tidal disruption of a white dwarf by a black hole. Neither of these would be particularly strong GW sources, compared to merging black holes or even merging neutron stars.

Since the horizon to detect merging neutron stars is about 200 Mpc ([Pian 2021](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2020.609460/full)) with LIGO/VIRGO, then I doubt this event could have produced a detectable GW signal from a distance of 1.26 Gpc even if LIGO/VIRGO had been operating.


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