A Search for Simultaneous Optical Counterparts of Gamma-Ray Bursts (LOTIS: Livermore Optical Transient Imaging System)

Under this grant the UC Berkeley PI, K. Hurley, joined the LOTIS collaboration. His task was to provide precise localization data on cosmic gamma-ray bursts, so that the LOTIS automated camera data could be searched more efficiently for evidence of optical emission from gamma-ray burst sources. This was accomplished. A program is now in place which automatically sends Interplanetary Network data on bursts via e-mail to H.S. Park, for every burst detected by the GRB experiment aboard the Ulysses spacecraft (for which K. Hurley is the P.I.). The data consist either of triangulation annuli (obtained when just two spacecraft observe the burst) or error boxes (when three widely separated spacecraft observe it). These define a locus of possible burst positions. The annuli intersect the large error circles of the CGRO-BATSE experiment, and reduce their areas by a factor of approximately 25 or more. The error boxes reduce the areas by factors of several hundred. This in turn reduces the area which must be searched for an optical counterpart. No such counterparts have been observed to date by the LOTIS experiment, but several interesting upper limits have been obtained.