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Abstract:
The detection of gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation
from a neutron star merger, GW170817, heralded the dawn of a new age
of astronomy - the multi-messenger era. In this talk, I will discuss
follow-up of two landmark gravitational wave events - GW170817 and
GW190814. Radio monitoring of GW170817 enabled tight constraints to be
placed on the geometry and energetics of the merger, while VLBI
imaging helped improve the "standard siren" measurement of the Hubble
constant. No counterpart to GW190814 has been detected, but we have
carried out 8 follow-up observations with ASKAP, covering ~90% of the
localisation region. We have used these observations to carry out the
most sensitive widefield radio transient survey to-date, and I will
also present preliminary results from this search. I will outline
prospects for radio follow-up of future gravitational wave events
including the vital contributions that radio observations can make to
the broader multi-messenger effort, and quantitative estimates for the
detectability of events with current and future facilities.
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